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Home , Book of Joel, Isaac, Melchizedek, Moses

Joel

Prophet of the Pouring Out

Of the

Holy Spirit

by

1 |

Philip L. Ostergard

2 | Joel

And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount and in there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls (:28-32).

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edicated to the Memory of Dr. Cornelius Haggard

It was my high privilege as a youth of fifteen years when Cornelius Haggard (age twenty-four) preached a week of messages in my local church. His moral earnestness in his message on the potter’s wheel lingers still. With the heavy responsibilities as president of Pacific College, the institution that evolved into Azusa Pacific University, Doctor Haggard resigned as the pastor of a church where he had been pastoring and called me to replace him. I felt honored that he would ask me, though I was to be inducted into the U.S. Army the next day. I have full confidence that Dr. Haggard would be pleased with the efforts put into this book.

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Contents A Word from the Writer ...... 10 A Word as to Method...... 13

The Book of Joel in the Great Stage Play...... 13

A Walk through Ancient Jerusalem...... 14

SETTING THE STAGE...... 18 Characters ...... 19 The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Old ...... 19

God the Father...... 19

God the Son...... 19 Deleted: 19 God the Spirit...... 20

Children of Zion...... 20

Joel...... 22

Joel’s Mission—The Highest Call...... 22

It’s All in the Name...... 23 Deleted: 23 Struggles with Weakness ...... 24

Rehearsal for Opening Day...... 24

The Judeans...... 25

Climate: and Peace...... 26 Scenery: - A Visual Backdrop...... 28 Who is the ? ...... 29

The Dilemma – The Greatest Plague Known to Man...... 31 The Silenced Cure...... 31

A Prophet’s Laboratory...... 33

The Importance of the Promise...... 33

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ACT ONE: THE PROMISE OF THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT . 36 Scene 1 – The Curtain Rises...... 37 The Plague ...... 37

The People Ask, Why? ...... 39

An Invitation to Pray and Lament...... 41

The Nations Ask, Where Is Their God? ...... 42

Faith When God Is Silent...... 43

The Answer Waits To Be Found ...... 45

Scene 2 – The Day of the Lord is Coming...... 47 Blow the Trumpet in Zion...... 47

An Invitation to Repent...... 49

Why Should the Judeans Repent?...... 52

Confession Is Not Enough ...... 53

How to Repent ...... 54

A Call for Intercession...... 55 Why Intercessory ?...... 56

Our Greatest Intercessor ...... 59

A Call To Remember Our Heritage and Our Inheritance...... 61 Deleted: 62 Great Things We Expect the Lord To Do...... 63 Deleted: 63 Great Things the Lord Has Done...... 64 Deleted: 63 Rejoicing in the God Who Does Great Things ...... 64 Deleted: 64 The Day of the Lord is Still Coming ...... 65

Great Things Remembered...... 66 Deleted: 65 Another Great Thing: ...... 67 Deleted: 66 Deleted: 67 Another Great Thing: The Father’s Promise ...... 68 Deleted: 69 Another Great Thing: The Awesome Day of the Lord...... 70 Deleted: 69 Another Great Thing: Whoever ...... 70 6 | Joel

ACT TWO -THE GIVER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PREPARES FOR THE OUTPOURING...... 72 Where Has He Been?...... 73

The Holy Spirit Worked throughout the ...... 74

The Incarnate Receives the Holy Spirit ...... 76

The Holy Spirit Prepares for Battle...... 77

Jesus Teaches about the Holy Spirit...... 80 Jesus Explains How To Be Born Again...... 80

The Lord Jesus Gives the Holy Spirit...... 80

Worshipping the Lord in Spirit and Truth ...... 82

Passion Week...... 83 Weeping from the Mount of Olives ...... 84

The Upper Room...... 86 The and the New ...... 86

Jesus Celebrates the New ...... 88

Jesus Establishes the ...... 89

Jesus Teaches about the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit...... 89

The Disciples Ask… ...... 91 Jesus Tells Them about His Replacement ...... 94

The Spirit of Truth...... 97 The High Prays...... 101 Jesus Prays for the World’s Spirit of Rebellion...... 101

Jesus Pays High Compliments to His Disciples ...... 102

Jesus Intercedes for Himself and for Us ...... 102

The Final Acts ...... 106 The Passover Lamb Thirsts...... 106

It Is Finished ...... 106

Jesus Rises ...... 107 7 | Joel

Jesus Gives the Holy Spirit...... 108

Jesus Reaffirms the Disciples ...... 109

The Disciples Long for The Kingdom Now ...... 110

Clothed with Power...... 114 The Purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Great Valley...... 114

The Work of the Holy Spirit ...... 117

ACT THREE – THE HOLY SPIRIT POURS OUT ...... 118 Feast of Pentecost: Past and Future...... 120 Pentecost Arrives with Fire...... 121

What Could It All Mean?...... 122

The Promise of the Father Revealed ...... 124 Peter Explains the of Christ...... 125

Peter Explains That Jesus Sits at the Right ...... 125

Peter Explains That Jesus Is Lord...... 126

Peter Explains What the People Should Do Now...... 126

The Holy Spirit: Fully Engaged...... 127 The Works of Peter and John in the Acts of the ...... 129

How the Holy Spirit Works in Believers...... 131 The Holy Spirit Descended upon the Paul...... 134 The Holy Spirit Sends Forth Paul and ...... 134

Paul Writes about the Power of Weakness ...... 136

Division Threatens the Church...... 138 What about the Gentiles?...... 139

Paul and Barnabas Part Company...... 141

The Coming of the Day of the Lord ...... 143 Spiritual Warfare in the Last Days...... 144

How Can We Be Ready for These End-Time Events?...... 145

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Warnings for These Last Days...... 146

The Called-Out Citizens of God – The New ...... 149 Beautiful Feet Upon the Mountains...... 151

Give the Winds a Mighty Voice ...... 152

Another Warning to the Church...... 152

The Responsibility Is Ours...... 155

When the Curtain Falls ...... 157 Valley of Judgment, Decision, ...... 157

The Day Our Ceases ...... 159

A Final Bow...... 160

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A Word from the Writer

Early in life, I felt the mantle of the call to ministry. Raised and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, as a child of eight, I began a lifelong habit of reading the Scripture. My grandmother, whose home we loved to visit, allowed me to read the Matthew Henry commentaries often used by my Danish grandfather, a Lutheran minister. One day, grandmother took down from an upper shelf a special book, a 1633 Danish Bible brought over from the old country. The treasured Bible is in my home today in a glass case and grandfather’s books are on shelves in my study. As I write, I am sitting on my grandfather’s strait back chair. The chair also serves as an for prayer. As a teenager and college student, friends acquainted me with churches of the Wesleyan persuasion. I enjoyed the freedom of expression in worship and was introduced to their teachings of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. This doctrine encouraged Christians, after their new birth experience and victory over sin, to press on in praying for purity of heart (a heart cleansing) brought about by a second experience of grace—the of the Holy Spirit. This was a period of great missionary work in all the churches of my community. Nearly every month, a missionary on furlough would inspire our evangelistic fervor. I stood at dockside when two young people from our congregation set sail for China; though a year later, we were seriously grieved when the young bride died during child delivery. At Pasadena College, now Point Loma University, I had the distinct joy of sitting under the instruction of Dr. John Goodwin, a general superintendent of the

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Church of the , who was a pioneer in the beginning of the Nazarene church in Pasadena. It was also my rare privilege to study under the distinguished theologian H. Orton Wiley, whose books I purchased and studied. The wife of my pastor was a daughter of the never-to-be-forgotten and revered Uncle Bud Robinson, the converted cowboy who preached around the world. Through my college and seminary education, I always rejoiced that my first philosophy class was taught by the man who became known as a scholar of the Nazarene church, Dr. Horace Purkiser. Dr. Purkiser read my early notes for this book and encouraged me to press on. While family, church, and college professors expected me to enter the ministry, I felt the direction of the Holy Spirit to give my life to the helping of children, both boys and girls. I became part of an organization for youth beginning in my community; and over the years, I have played a part in the influencing of thousands of youth. If I had ten lives to give, they would all be given to the high calling of challenging boys and girls. I studied in a seminary during World War II, so the school administration wrote a letter to my draft board requesting that I be allowed to complete my training with the possibility of becoming a chaplain. When talking to draft personnel, a strange impression moved me to put the letter back in my pocket. Instead, I would experience life among soldiers, learning how to work with men of all backgrounds. My subsequent army experiences assured me that my decision was one of the most important of my life. After the war, I enrolled in a new seminary in Pasadena started by noted radio evangelist, Charles E. Fuller. To my deep joy, I sat under great teachers: Wilbur Smith, Everett Harrison, Harold Lindzell, Edward Carnel, Carl Henry, etc. They were great scholars and their books rest on my shelves today.

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I thank the heavenly Father for exposing me to three branches of : , Wesleyanism, and Calvinism, giving me the challenge of searching the Scriptures with the light of the three great disciplines. There are differences between them, especially in the teaching of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Understanding the differences helped me to more effectively search the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me into truth. My own study and library has been a sacred room to me over these six decades, as I have intensely searched the Scriptures. On one of my shelves, I have a free-swinging pendulum in a sixteen by twenty inch framed box. The pendulum represents Truth in the study of the Scripture: “Sanctify them by Thy Truth. Thy Word is Truth.” This has been my daily prayer. It was also my privilege to teach in Department of Azusa Pacific College (now Azusa Pacific University) during the years of growth under the noted builder of that institution, Dr. Cornelius Haggard. Though I enjoyed the incomparable privilege of teaching the Bible to young men and women preparing for the ministry, I realized that I should make a choice between teaching at the college level and a ministry focused on youth. As I had been increasingly sickened by the eroding of values and ideals in our society, I am satisfied that the giving of my professional life to the helping of children fulfilled the call of the Spirit for me.

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A Word as to Method

In preparing to teach youth, I have spent countless hours in study trying earnestly to answer the question: What would be the message of the Master Teacher were He speaking to these young ones? In my attempt to reveal the Truths of God’s Word, endless hours have been spent in my workshop making illustrations of the parables and teachings of Jesus. In preparing messages, the Old Testament naturally evolved into a great stage play with major characters (, Eve, , , ) and minor characters (, , Myriam, Absalom, Vashti) playing their parts. And it is in the framework of a play that I relay to you the profound truths within the book of Joel. This presentation has been in development over decades of study with the final goal of telling the story that would be proclaimed not only by the prophet Joel but also by the of Bethlehem, Jesus, and the apostles. It is the message that the Lord Jesus in His Great Commission laid upon all of us who claim the benefits of His atonement—to proclaim that whosoever will call on His name, may receive everlasting life.

The Book of Joel in the Great Stage Play

Though his ministry is very short, it is misleading to think of Joel as a minor prophet, for his prophesy is of incomparable importance because Joel opens our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. How does he do this? After leading his people through a distressing plague, Joel speaks the words of the eternal God, giving the prophesy commonly referred to as the Promise of the Father as recorded in Joel 2:28-29:

And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

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Though there are other prophesies of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in both the Old and New Testaments, in no other place are the elements of the movement of the Spirit so clearly outlined as they are in Joel. His book is a seminar in revival and a foundational study to correctly understand the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that allows you and me to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). And, for good measure, this small jewel of a book will encourage you to overcome the problem of maintaining faith when things look hopeless on the mission field of life. It’s a study in the exasperating question, Why is this happening to me? It’s also a study in the good fortune of a society who has a prophet within its to whom the Word of the Lord has come and through whom the living God channels His sovereign help. What that word is and how God displays His hope to Joel, to the first disciples, to you, and to me—that is what this play is about.

A Walk through Ancient Jerusalem

In 1984, I had the stimulating privilege of a visit to the . For our third night, we checked into a hotel on the Sea of Galilee after dark. The next morning, my place at the breakfast table was empty, for before sunrise I was walking the shoreline with my mind busy in imagination. This is not the place to relate the other inspiring sights. However, when my tour group left Jerusalem, I elected to stay for six extra days to do special things. The memories of those days inspire me as I tell the story of Joel and as I build a foundation of the setting of the story. Please refer also to “The Geography of Jerusalem” drawing on page ***. On my own in Jerusalem, I took a bus for the short distance of a couple of miles to Bethany, the village where Mary and Martha lived. I walked the return journey not going around but over the Mount of Olives. As one reaches the summit and beholds the city, the sight is breathtaking for one is high enough to see the entire city. In Old Testament days, ’s beautiful temple would have glistened in the sunlight. To would-be conquerors such as Sennacherib in the days of King , the sight of the temple would have salivated his for conquest. The story of the prayer of Hezekiah to overcome this assault on his kingdom was so dramatic that it is told two times in the Bible: 2 Kings 19 and 37. In 1984, I spent in the summer in our organization’s camp and made an interesting comparison between our hill-top camp site and the mount of Olives. Our camp is roughly the 14 | Joel same distance to the highway as the summit of Olivet is to Jerusalem. As the boys would go to their sleeping bags on the hillside, I would tell stories and in the night air, my voice carried far enough that someone told me he could hear my voice from the highway, though not well enough to understand. I relate this because when the Jewish people had been in Babylon for 70 years and were allowed to return home, messengers hurried ahead to proclaim the news of the release of the captivity. When those first messengers passed over the summit and saw the city, they burst in excitement, shouting the good news with uncontrollable enthusiasm as they raced down the slope. Please keep this picture in mind. We will refer to it in our story. On another day, I reenacted the walk of on his journey to his son (about 2,000 years before Christ). Though he began his journey in Beershseba, a distance of about forty miles from Jerusalem, I would only walk a couple of miles down the . See the drawing. On the return, I came to Mount , a narrow north to south ridge with the Tyropean Stream and the Kidron Stream, which come together at the south end of the ridge. I looked up the steep cliffs of the Mount Moriah ridge. On these cliffs, in Abraham’s day, the had built their own city, giving them an easily defended stronghold; any enemy would have an almost perpendicular climb on three sides if they wanted to capture the city. However, the natural fortress of the Jebusites brought with it the serious problem of water supply. An enemy could easily conquer them through a long siege that prevented water from entering the fortress. Impossible as it sounds, the early Jebusites, with their ancient tools and without modern engineering knowledge, dug a tunnel from the Kidron Stream into the mountain ridge down to which they could dig out a well. King David left the Jebusites in their natural fortress and built his palace and the city of Jerusalem further up the ridge. Eventually however, he wanted to take over the fortress, too. The Bible does not give the details but, in some way, David’s men used the water system in their conquest. King Hezekiah, aproximately 250 years later, extended the tunnel through the Comment [V1]: Do you mean, “250 years after ridge so that it came out on the side of the Tyropean Valley, at the New Testament site of the building the tunnel…”? pool of Siloam (see John 9:7 and 11). Stretching over a mile through rock, the engineering 15 | Joel project fulfilled an unbelievably impressive task, in spite of their ancient tools and lack of modern-day engineering expertise. (See the dotted line showing Hezekiah’s tunnel on Figure ***.) I decided to walk through the tunnel and so, beginning at the Pool of Siloam, I waded with water to my waste through the entire length coming out into the Kidron Stream. The experience gave me an appreciation not only of the ancient engineering project but a basic appreciation of the spiritual significance. As ancient Jerusalem had its water supply, so Zion, the spiritual city of God has its refreshing fountain of living water. I also desired to reenact Abraham’s walk, so I followed the Kidron stream and gradually worked my way up the mountain incline toward Jerusalem. There are walls around the city with an opening to the highest point. I desired to reach the highest elevation for it seemed to me to have been the place of Abraham’s sacrifice and, I would assume also the place where our Lord was crucified. However, at the time of my visit, the controlled the summit and so, fencing blocked my path. Disappointed that I was blocked off from a view of the highest point in the ridge, I went to a hotel in the area and asked to be able to view the area from their top floor. Denied from doing so, and since I could do nothing further in my reenactment of Abraham, I walked back to the walled city and climbed the staircase to the top. I thought of the philosopher/prophet who somewhere within the walls of the city meditated and prayed for understanding of the problems his people were facing (Hab. 2:1). Walking along the top of the wall, unexpectedly, my eyes focused upon the earth/stone embankment cutting into the land. I gasped. The rocky wall looked like a skull with deep, dark pockets dug out for eyes. Could I have been looking at the “Place of a Skull” as referred to in Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, and John 19:17? In fact, many scholars believe that the Lord was crucified just above this gigantic rock formation. Comment [V2]: When I was there, I was told he was I had one more excursion for which I brought with me a special cup from home. crucified at street level. Beginning at a building in Jerusalem, which has been constructed to be much like the Upper Room, I wound my way down the steep incline and crossed the Kidron Stream. Not far up the mount, I entered a grove of olive trees, some of them believed to be 2,000 years old. It had been my privilege to walk the shores of the Sea of Galilee, to view the city as our Master did from the

16 | Joel summit of the Mount of Olives. I had walked the narrow streets of Jerusalem but, on this occasion, I knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane. I placed my cup on a branch of an olive tree and thought: His Cup: bitter gall, rejection by His own people, loneliness, torture My Cup: shame, unworthiness, dull in appreciation It is not fair!

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SETTING THE STAGE

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Characters

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Though we cannot fully understand that God is a , as Christians who accept the words of the Bible as God’s words, we also accept the doctrine of one God in three persons. These three persons are . . .

God the Father In the Old Testament, God the Father is the Creator and dominant First Person of the Trinity. He is the one who called Abraham out of idolatrous Ur of the Chaldees and blessed the nations through him. He is the one who called Moses out of shepherding and gave him a tribe of a million to through a desert wilderness. He is the one who in the days of sent fire from heaven to prove to hundreds of worshipers that Jehovah is the one true Lord of all. Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord God Jehovah is the great Shepherd, guiding, protecting, blessing, and disciplining His people.

God the Son Though in the background, God the Son and second person of the Trinity was ever present. He was the lamb whose blood spoke “better things than that of Abel” ( 12:24). He was the door through which and his family walked into the ark. He was the willing son when Abraham sacrificed . He was the blood over the door casings on the night of the Passover. Volumes could be written just for His appearances throughout the Old Testament. Though the Lord Jesus did not give His life on the cross until the New Testament period, :8 makes it clear that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” His atonement and His advocacy for repentance of sin was as effective for Abel as it was for the thief who died with Him on the cross.

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God the Spirit When the earth was brought into being, the hovering of the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Trinity—gently called forth the creation of all living things (Genesis 1:2). The Hebrew scholar, Gesenius tells us that the word used for “hovering” means to “brood over young ones, to cherish young (as an eagle), Deut. 32:11; figuratively used of the Spirit of God, who brooded over the shapeless mass of the earth, cherishing and vivifying.” Comment [V3]: Need citation: I remember my father allowing me to put my hand under the wing of a mother hen that was brooding over a nest of unhatched eggs. I can still feel her warm body, instinctively prepared Author Dr. William Gesenius by nature to keep the eggs warm. That experience gives me a little understanding of the actions Title, Hebrew and Chaldee of the Holy Spirit, hovering over the creation, brooding, and cherishing to give warmth to Lexicon Year of publication, 1979 humanity. This comforting Spirit has been active throughout the Old Testament and continues in Publisher, Baker Book our lives today—for a purpose. We will learn more about His work and His purpose in the lives House, Publisher City, Grand of His children as the play unfolds. Rapids, Michigan Page # Children of Zion

Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God (Joel 2:23).

King David's deep love and reverence for Mount Moriah (the the mount where Abraham offered Isaac) was expressed in the term "Zion." There he built his palace and his son, Solomon, would build the temple. The term Zion would soon come to mean the entire ridge, the fortress, the palace, the temple, and eventually all of Jerusalem. This term and its reference to all of Jerusalem is David’s favorite expression in his . Also, by this term, the prophet Isaiah sang of “Israel”; thus, “Zion” also took on the meaning of the body of people obedient and faithful to the Old Covenant. And it prefigured that universal spiritual body of redeemed individuals as we know them today—the New Testament Church. This New Church would not be Methodist or Lutheran, not comprised of people who partake of communion or regularly worship but, rather, members of an invisible “City of God,” a universal church where membership is not by physical attendance or confession but by an inner communion.

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David, the hero for defeating Goliath, became the sweet psalmist of Israel with refrain after refrain radiating his love for Zion—the place and the people:

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever” (Psalm 125:1-2).

Zion not only provided a physical fortress for the early Jebusites and the Judeans, it also became a spiritual fortress for the . Psalm 46:1 declares: God is our refuge and strength. . . . Be still and know that I am God. Of Zion, wrote our great hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” This mighty fortress of Zion had its own secure water supply. Protected by the impregnable walls and refreshed by th e underground stream, Zion is the citadel of the community of the children of Zion. In this light, we can appreciate John Newton's great hymn:

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God! He, whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for his own abode: On the rock of ages founded, What can shake thy sure repose? With 's walls surrounded Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See! the streams of living waters Springing from eternal love; Well supply thy sons and daughters, And all fear of want remove: Who can faint while such a river Ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace, which like the Lord, the giver, Never fails from age to age. 1

These sons and daughters of Zion, refreshed from the never-failing stream, protected in the stronghold of the Almighty, and secure within His loving care are in my life today. One such

1 John Newton, “Glorious Things,” The John Newton Project, September 12, 2011, http://www.johnnewton.org 21 | Joel child is a long-time friend of mine, and my wife, who experienced a medically baffling problem: her leg muscles could hardly support her weight, even though she is slight of build. She continues to accept this affliction most cheerfully even though on a Christmas day, her husband was unexpectedly taken from her. I have marveled to see the resiliency of her faith. She is truly refreshed from His living waters and protected and secure in the loving care of the Almighty. The in the days of prophet Joel and we, who worship the great King, are children of Zion who look forward to the great day described in :22ff:

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

When I was a boy, I heard a minister remark that the sinner may have a better time on earth, but we can look forward to Heaven. I know, it hardly seems fair. But I prefer to think that as children of Zion, we have access to the truly good things of earth now and every good thing of Heaven ahead.

Joel

Joel’s Mission—The Highest Call The prophetic office was the highest calling in Old Testament times, for that office privileged a mortal man to represent Jehovah God. The duties and responsibilities of the were as varied as the needs of the people. When the Lord needed to give a wakeup call and a stirring rebuke for sin, for instance, He sent the prophets Elijah, , or . When the Lord wept with backsliding Israel, He sent men like and . When His people could not understand the triumph of evil, the Lord sent Habakkuk who, by his own struggle with apparently unanswerable questions, could bolster the flickering flames of faith. In the days of the return from captivity, the Lord’s people were more concerned with building their homes than restoring the temple, so the Lord sent to spur the people to 22 | Joel action. He spoke few words and for all we know he might have been deaf and mute, but he aroused the people. For the unique responsibility of unveiling a most important Old Testament prophesy, the Lord chose Joel. He would endure a serious drought and plague with His people that they might be disciplined, humbly repenting, seeking revival, and prepared to be the recipients of the great announcement. Fortunate were the people of to have in their midst such a man prepared and motivated to be moved by God.

It’s All in the Name Often, Old Testament names prophesied what the person would be like. For example, means “heel grabber.” It’s also a picture of his personality, his striving and scheming to gain what was not his. Isaiah’s name meaning “ is salvation” is most fitting for this great evangelical prophet. The prophet Amos whose name meant “burden bearer” treaded a path into the king’s palace, moving as though weighed down with the weight of the message of judgment. A false prophet even remarked that the land could not bear the words of Amos. Considering ’s personality, we don’t see the meaning of his name, “dove,” until we think of him as the first foreign missionary. Against his own will, Jonah carried God’s message of peace and forgiveness to the arch military enemy. We know nothing of Joel’s father, Pethuel. However, Pethuel means “God’s Opening,” suggesting a divine plan that he rear up a son to be used by the Holy Spirit for a great purpose. But Pethuel and his wife gave to their son a great name—Joel—by reversing the syllables of the great prophet Elijah. Instead of “ – jah” meaning “God is Lord,” they called their son “Jah – El,” meaning “Lord is God.” Though sharing a similar name, Joel would be a strikingly different personality from the prophet Elijah, who called down fire upon the altar on Carmel. Elijah prefigured whose it was to call his people to repentance and prepare the way for the upon the earth (:12-13). As the prophet of Pentecost, Joel would call ancient Judah to revival, not repentance, and forecast the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after the Son of God comes to earth.

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Struggles with Weakness In the accounts of many of the Bible characters, we see inner struggles over their own human weaknesses, and over the consciousness of inborn sinful nature. Isaiah, in a very long book, gives a most eloquent expressions of worship of the great Creator as he humbly prostrates under the light of the holiness of God:

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King. The Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:5).

Without doubt, Joel fought similar, intense, personal conflicts against his own nature. As a called prophet of God, we can be assured, however, that God comforted Joel as He comforted Isaiah:

Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged (Isaiah 6:7).

Though we have windows into the spiritual battles of David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Paul, and others, we have no knot hole through which to witness Joel’s inmost conflicts. But we are confident that his heart hungered for fellowship with God and that his faith was disciplined in the seeking of of Jehovah.

Rehearsal for Opening Day In their apprenticeship, all great leaders go through intense training and disciplining. For instance, the discipline and training that future Navy Seals undergo is so rigorous that only the most determined, enduring, and disciplined men survive. In the lives of some Bible characters, we wonder how they could endure the training that God initiated for them: The choice of Moses to become one with his people in slavery rather than living in the king’s palace is incomprehensible. That choice was followed by forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness. Similarly, after battling Goliath, King relentlessly pursued David. Consequently, the years he spent living as an outcast prepared David to be the shepherd of his people. And let’s not forget our Lord who lived thirty years in obscurity preparing for a public ministry of just three short years. 24 | Joel

We have no clue what Joel’s boot camp involved but by his own preparedness, he could challenge and rally the and his people to revival.

The Judeans

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Climate: Paganism and Peace

During Joel’s , there was an unusual atmosphere in Judea unlike any that other prophets faced. Rather than constantly rebuking the people of their sin or engaging in bitter confrontations with the priesthood, as previous prophets so often did, Joel experienced a beautiful spirit of cooperation between the priesthood and the worshipers. To understand this spirit of cooperation in Joel’s time, we need to look at what was happening in the land before Joel came on stage. I’ll try to keep it simple, but the saga is quite dramatic, so please stay with me. After the breakup of Solomon's kingdom in 950 B.C., northern tribes set up their own kingdom, keeping the name of Israel. The southern tribes, loyal to the line of David, named their new kingdom, Judah. While David and Solomon were god-fearing rulers, it only took a few generations before the most evil of all Israel’s kings took control—King Ahab. During his reign, a prophet named Elijah appeared to King Ahab without introduction. He challenged the 400 prophets of the king’s pagan god, Baal, to a contest with the God of Israel on Mount Carmel. The God of Israel, of course, won in a fiery show of power and sovereignty. As a side note, it was fitting for Elijah to conduct this contest, for his name contains the two most important words for , El meaning "God" and Jah meaning "Lord." And in a fitting prayer, Elijah said to God on Mt. Carmel,

LORD , Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God [El] (:36).

That this people may know that You are the LORD God [Jah] (18:37)

And the people responded by chanting “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God! [ Jah is El ] (18:39).

Before thousands of spectators, the God of Israel proved Himself to be true while the god of stone known as Baal stayed absent. Even so, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, remained unrepentant and ungodly. But we know from stories in the life of the prophet , who replaced Elijah, that Elijah's revival was far reaching. Wherever Elisha traveled, faith and reverence for the Lord Jehovah was strong among the people.

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Though Elijah was not a writing prophet, he wrote a chilling letter of warning to the southern king of Judah, King Jehoram. This letter announced that because he and the people of the land served pagan and follow the wicked ways of previous kings of Israel and Judah, they would suffer a serious affliction (:12-15). Other than this letter, Elijah’s worked primarily in the northern kingdom. However, the winds carried his passionate words from mouth to mouth, village to village among all the tribes. Over the rippling brooks and rolling hills, his name whispered hope, infused courage, strengthened faith, and renewed loyalty to Jehovah. Possibly the spilling over of Elijah’s revival might be an answer as tot why Joel experienced such cooperation between the and the people in the southern ., On the throne of Israel was still the most wicked of all its rulers, Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, continuously stirred the crowd to worship Baal. Jezebel even ordered that Elijah be hunted down and killed. The line of wickedness continued as Jezebel’s son took the place of Ahab as king; and her daughter, Athaliah, married King Jehoram, the crown prince of Judah. Thus, the demonical Jezebel became queen mother to both kingdoms and grandmother to future kings. We’re now getting close to the critical turning point in this story: When King Jehoram died, Queen Athaliah killed all heirs to the Judean throne, thus equaling or surpassing the insane cruelty of her own mother, Jezebel. Fortunately, as Athaliah seized the throne, the priest, Jehoiada, and his wife rescued and hid a tiny grandson named Joash. Stay with me a little longer, because what happened next explains everything. When the boy Joash was seven years old, the priest and his wife orchestrated a coup and put the boy upon the throne. Now that the kingdom of Judah was under a regency government by a God-fearing priest, the worship of the Lord God, not Baal, was encouraged. Bible scholars are not in agreement that the story of Joel is set in the general atmosphere of the period shortly after the ministry of Elijah. It could have happened during the regency of the boy king, Joash, and the great high priest, Jehoiada. The fact that there is no mention of a king in the story of Joel might lend an argument for it occurring during a regency government. Though we cannot be certain that the Joel’s ministry happened at this time, and should it have taken place under different political circumstances, his message is still timeless and relevant to every age. 27 | Joel

Scenery: The Day of the Lord - A Visual Backdrop

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

In Joel's day, fearful clouds threatened immediate judgment and hope darkened into despair. The great day of the Lord was in sight.

I’m not happy with these illustrations. I’ve found another illustrator that I think will do a better job.

Then a break of sunlight appeared in the gloomy landscape, a brief interval of time that began one glorious morn when the eastern horizon burst in upon a manger in Bethlehem. Given to weary and hopeless mankind suffering through the long night of sin was the “Sun,” or if we choose, the “Son” of Righteousness. Deleted: ¶ ¶

1st Coming Joel’s Day 2nd Coming Promise of Joel Day of the Lord

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Today, with New Testament teachings and two millenniums of world history, we understand that what looked like one great day of the Lord to the prophets of the Old Testament was really two “mountain ranges” separated by a valley. Between the humble birth of Jesus at Bethlehem and His second coming to awaken the dead in Christ and rapture the church, is a great interlude—a great valley between the two advents of the Son of God.

Who is the Messiah?

It’s important to understand why the thought (and still think) that the day of the Lord, the day when the Messiah ushers in the Kingdom of God on earth, is one literal day. Isaiah 11 explains that the Hebrews expected their Messiah would gather all the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth back to Israel and establish the kingdom of God—a peaceful, even perfect, coexistence among all mankind once and for all. They expected that when this kingdom comes, the whole world will recognize Israel as the center of world government and the God of Israel will be worshipped as the one true God. At times, Israel’s people looked to their kings to be this Messiah. King David, for example, established a great kingdom, but this man after God’s own heart disappointed the Hebrew people by committing adultery and murder. David’s sins led to rebellion within his own family and in the king’s court that continued during and after the unparalleled, peaceful reign of Solomon. King Solomon’s glorious reign, so typical and prophetical of the reign of the Lord Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, tragically eroded also because of the great weaknesses of the one on the throne. Forever afterward, Israel would yearn for their true Messiah—another David—to rule Israel, but one without such disappointing, human features.The Jewish people never considered that Jesus of Nazareth would be this Messiah. He did not usher in a peaceful coexistence among all nations but instead proclaimed that He would build His church against which the “gates of Hades would not prevail” (Matthew 16:18). He also proclaimed what they had already heard the prophets say before: God’s kingdom is at hand (:15; Luke 10:11, 21:31).

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Through parables, Jesus tried to explain to the people of Israel that God’s coming kingdom is not only a physical kingdom but a spiritual one now: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33). In what way is the kingdom of God, or heaven, like yeast? When I was a child, my mother would put yeast in batter and set it aside. After a few hours or so, the yeast spread throughout the entire batter. This spreading is called “leavening.” It is the leaven that makes the bread rise once baked. Without the leavening, the bread would remain flat. At the proper time, my mom would bake the leavened dough into a loaf of bread that fed her family. Through this parable, Jesus is saying that he has ushered in the waiting (the leavening) period of the kingdom by placing a small amount of spiritual Truth (yeast) within his first disciples. He left this world for a short time, fully expecting His disciples to spread His Truth to the entire world so that at the appropriate time, mankind (the batter) would be fully prepared to rise to the occasion of Jesus’ return. During these leavening days, we serve an absent sovereign. Foolish as it sounds, our Master leaves the frail human servants that we are to tend to His business. Regardless of world conditions, we have a blessed hope of His return in the Father’s appointed time.“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him” ( 1:7). Joel’s Promise of the Father, given so sketchily, will be fulfilled in detail.

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The Dilemma – The Greatest Plague Known to Man

The Silenced Cure

Suppose that in a secluded research lab, a pre-med student discovers a cure for heart disease. He tells his superiors—and because of fear or incompetency or bureaucracy, they tell no one. Thousands continue to needlessly die. It would be unfair, to say the least, that a privileged few keep silent the promise of life-saving news like this. This might seem an unlikely scenario, even a violation of some kind of law that demands justice. That’s true. In the same way, though we don’t like to admit it, Spirit-filled Christians are few and hold onto the cure of for every diseased soul, which is a carrier of the poisonous venom of sin. Mankind relies on Christians to give them the good news—that God has already developed and freely distributes their cure. Even the angels at Bethlehem proclaimed this good news, but only to a select few. Today, it’s ours to proclaim to all the nations. There are many books on strategy, on how you and I should carry out our massive mission. This is not one of them. This is a book of how you and I are empowered to carry out our mission. How exactly are natural people empowered to advertise the supernatural promise of the greatest cure of all? The prophet, Jeremiah, asked this question in his own manner: "Is there no balm in ? Is there no physician there?” (:22). This wondered how there would ever be enough minor prophets to make the good news known among his own and future generations. No doubt that would require millions of proclaimers. The church today should be asking the same question. Honestly, when we face the fact that everyone has been bitten by the of sin and multitudes are still in darkness; and when we agree that there is balm to heal every single one of them, logic should convict every believer that God’s plan has not been fully carried out. The consuming business of the church, then, need not be the comforting of the parishioners but the spreading of the great news of the abundant supply of “balm in Gilead.” Its business is to advertise where to find the Physician who is waiting with x-ray and scalpel.

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This good news of an eternal cure for sin is what we call the . It is the Creator's great act of love, the gift of His Son, born of flesh and blood, taking our sins upon Himself, and rising from the dead so that we also might live. Most people begin this discussion at the day of Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or perhaps earlier at the birth of Jesus. For a truly unique insight on the matter, we begin where the research begins—in the laboratory.

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A Prophet’s Laboratory

Nestled among the dramatic Old Testament stories of the creation, the , and the flood; and of the Psalms, Proverbs, and ; and the thundering messages of fifteen other Hebrew prophets, is the little book of Joel—a sparkling gem in a display of jewels. Unfortunately, Joel has traditionally been overshadowed by the lengthy, better- known messages of the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, , and . In spite of its meager notoriety, the prophet Joel answers the question and lays out the plan for how to multiply the prophets so that every creature might hear the good news. Considering its brevity of only seventy three verses, what other Old Testament book can dare boast that it is so often quoted and referred to by New Testament writers? so imperative in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit? so related to the Great Commission? so vital for the Church today? so needed in our for revival? so helpful in our understanding of the events of the Day of the Lord? The Book of Joel possesses all of these distinctions. We’ll look at three of them in more detail as we move through this play: Comment [V4]: All of this is detailed later.

The Importance of the Promise

The last command of our Lord to His disciples was this: proclaim the good news to all peoples, to the ends of the earth. It is the same message that the angels sang to the on the hills of Bethlehem. Our privilege and command is to proclaim this same good news to the whole world as well . We have help in getting this job done—the Promise of the Father. This promise plays out in our lives in three distinct ways:

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By the Outpouring of the Spirit

Joel 2:29:

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Today, you and I, fully yielding to the Holy Spirit can proclaim the good news with supernatural empowerment given to us by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit that poured out over the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. Much more on that in Part 3.

By Preparing for the Final Day of the Lord

Joel 2:30-31:

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

We live every day in anticipation of the return of the Lord and the great day of judgment—or at least we should. When the apostle Peter was about to earn the ’s crown, he spoke the words of both Joel and Jesus as he exhorted the early Christians (and all of us) to be vigorously prepared for the Day of the Lord. His passionate appeal is a serious warning to us (see 2 Peter 3:2-13).

By Proclaiming the Gift of Salvation to Those Who Call on Him

Joel 2:32:

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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We rely on the Promise every day for our own salvation and for those we minister to, and so did the apostle Paul. In his letter to the Romans, for example, Paul systematically set forth the doctrines of the New Testament ending his argument with “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (:13).

As the curtain rises and falls again, we will be taking closer looks at each of these roles in our lives throughout our time together.

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ACT ONE: THE PROMISE OF THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you (Luke 24:49).

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Scene 1 – The Curtain Rises

The Plague

Readied and sent from God, a prophet, a representative of the Eternal One is waiting. Let the curtain rise. Our scene opens in a community of hardworking, law abiding, fervent temple worshippers. However, their faith in Jehovah is being shaken by a worst-of-the-century locust plague. Why, oh why is this happening to me? they cry. A distraught prophet is wandering aimlessly among the grape vines covered with locusts. His erratic moves show that he suffers with the peasants and their animals. Joel tells the elders,

Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it. Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten, And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten (:2-4).

Old men could not remember a locust plague like this one. Their children would tell their children and those grandchildren would tell the great-grandchildren. But why did this worst plague that Israel had ever known occur at that particular time? Was this a curse, a disciplining for not following God’s commandments like the one mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:42: “Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.” Many plagues and curses had befallen Israel over the centuries, but they should not have taken the people by surprise. The Lord, through Moses, promised several specific curses that the Hebrews would incur in their new homeland if they did not obey the commandments of the Lord: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country (Deut. 28:16). Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out (v. 19). 37 | Joel

The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching. (v. 22). And your heavens which are over your head shall be , and the earth which is under you shall be iron. (v. 23). The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. (v. 25). The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the Itch (v. 27). The Lord had repeatedly warned His people that if they disobeyed, He, like a shepherd using his rod, would allow plagues to discipline them. However, this does not seem to be the case during the time of Joel because he does not indicate a single sin on the part of the people. Without one word of rebuke for God’s people, the situation in Judah created a serious challenge to their faith. Why should we suffer a serious plague when we are not in disobedience to the Lord? the people wondered. They observed the Levitical services of the temple and would have made their offerings of grain, but there was no harvest from which to make the offerings. And the priesthood didn’t resist Joel as they did with Jeremiah, Micah, , and other prophets. So again, the people asked, Why should the Lord send us this plague that is the worst of Comment [V5]: Please all generations? Why, oh why? provide source citation: In our modern, day, the State of Israel still experiences unbelievable locust plagues. One Author such incident is recorded in the “Panoramic F of the fifty year history of the State of Israel:” Weblink if available on the Swarms of locusts were first sighted on Apr. 8 in the area east of . The web Date police, army, and industrial plants in the were alerted. The United States announced that it Publisher name of book: had twenty-five locust fighting planes that could be at Israel’s disposal if the swarms moved Israel 50 Editor in Chief: Yehuda westwards. Thousands of people were mobilized to fight the locusts before they caused Shiff irreversible damage to crops. Publisher MichaelFriedman Publishing Groupe, Inc. In the days of Joel, without scientific understanding or any modern weapons, the peasants New York, New York v. 1. of that day were helpless. Ordinarily, there were two rain seasons a year, an early one and a latter My heart is overflowing with a good theme— The one, but this locust plague was also accompanied by drought. In the , the land of King “milk and honey,” on a countryside formerly covered with vineyards, no grapes could soothe the Date 1998 parched throats that choked on the intolerable dust. Mothers could give no help to crying, Comment [V6]: Is this a dehydrating children. quote from the survey? 38 | Joel

With no prospect for a joyful celebration, a young girl and her lover suspend their plans for . Without encouraging the habits of the drunkard, Joel simply observed he has not a drop to satisfy his craving. Pitifully, animals search for a leaf. Sheep, cows, and horses lay wasting away, surrendering to the locusts that cover their bodies. When our nightly news reports that people in third world countries are suffering from malnutrition and starving, many shrug their shoulders and yield responsibility to the Red Cross who helps in such catastrophes. In Joel's day, there was no Red Cross, certainly no U.S. planes specially equipped to fight locusts, and no neighboring countries helping, either. While a few Judeans might have escaped to another country, the vast majority faced starvation from malnutrition and disease. Hopelessness mounted as the seed for next year's crop shriveled and rotted. Through the sickening desolation, the prophet moves. He is human, yet his bearing is one of confidence emanating through his outpouring of sympathy and love. His calmness and quiet composure contrast the hopelessness and wits-end despair of the peasants. Understanding that he is a representative of the Eternal God, we can understand his confidant bearing. Joel wanders the dusty lanes he had known as a child, gazing with incredulous eyes upon familiar pasture lands, covered with locusts, and stripped bare of grass and weeds. Recognized among the Hebrew prophets as a gifted writer, he paints a picture of the desolation:

The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree-- All the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men (Joel 1:12).

Still the question lingers: Why?

The People Ask, Why?

Sunlight danced on the clouds as my plane soared toward Seattle. What an inspiring view of creation! On my refreshment tray for coffee, lay a little card that I have kept i n my Bible to remind myself of this soul-uplifting experience. The card hosts these words:

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

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To declare Your loving kindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night” (Psalm 92:1-2).

On that beautiful plane ride, giving thanks, singing praises, and declaring His loving kindness and faithfulness came easily. But, life is not always an inspiring view of a setting sun radiating glorious reflections. It certainly wasn’t so for the people of Judah, who continually ask :

Why? Oh Why?

In many of David’s Psalms, he also plaintively asks, Why? I have marked off in my Bible the surprising number of psalms in which David struggles with this question, especially noting the phrases, “How long” and “Why have you cast us off?” The psalmist David was always asking the question. The leper who fell at Jesus’ feet had no such questions. He believed wholeheartedly that the only reason Jesus would not heal him would be an unexplainable lack of willingness: “If you are willing, You can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). When Lazarus died, both Mary and Martha had no such questions either. They simply believed that had Jesus come a little earlier, their would not have died. They could not grab hold of the fact that their Lord had another plan in mind. Their human eyesight could not see through the circumstances that their Lord was capable regardless of where He stood (see John 11). Most of us, though, also ask, why? Because we with our human vision, we only see two possible answers: (1) God is either incapable of doing everything, or (2) He lacks the love and motivation to stop our needless suffering. We all know people who have suffered beyond what we think is reasonable. A golfing partner lost his wife of many years to cancer and when he remarried, a drunk driver interrupted his second good marriage. He reasoned: If God is all powerful, He could have prevented a needless accident; it must be that He does not feel for me. As a teenager, I looked up to a young man who, with his chosen life companion, was preparing for the mission field. After their marriage, I stood at dock side as they sailed for China. A year later, we heard the news: she had passed away in childbirth. Why? 40 | Joel

All of us could add many such examples of challenges to faith. Why should a child be born autistic? A child killed by a drunken driver? A tsunami? The Judeans kept reminding themselves that they had kept the commandments and maintained the Levitical worship system. It would be understandable for the Lord to punish the nation for some disobedience, but it was hard to understand the worst locust plague in generations. Their God, Jah-weh, became incomprehensible. The people started to doubt Him: Is He not able to fight the locusts, or does He not care for us? Like a heavy fog, the question hovered over the land.

An Invitation to Pray and Lament

It’s not stated who made the call for prayer and lamentation. Though it might have been Joel, it would be natural for the people themselves to want to gather together to pray and to expect their priests to lead the way. Unlike the ministry under other Old Testament prophets, the priests “girded themselves” Comment [V7]: What priests in the OT do by for action meaning that they assembled with a mindset to pray and lament. People gathered in a contrast? sacred assembly for a fast and serious crying out to the Lord.

Gird [ready] yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail [pray aggressively], you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; . . . Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord” (Joel 1:13-14).

The people of Judah came together as a farming community in deep despair, on their faces with sackcloth and ashes, pleading for mercy. God Answers the Prayer of His People—Right? The Bible is full of promises that God answers prayer. Therefore, when people suffer, the first duty of ministry is to unite in prayer and watch a loving God respond—right? Certainly, right! But the people in Judah prayed and their plight got worse, so the answer is—wrong! 41 | Joel

Let the prophet continue:

The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment” (Joel 1:17-18).

We know not whether prophet Joel was a farmer or landowner, but he was known as being in harmony with every farmer and every peasant. We see this when Joel prays, “O Lord, to You, I cry out” (v. 19). Joel even expresses a prayer from the scorched throats of the animals: “The beasts cry out to you” (v. 20). But silence.

The Nations Ask, Where Is Their God?

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (Psalm 79:10; Joel 2:17).

The nations surrounding the 40 x 90 mile promised land had questions, too. While the Judeans faithfully kept the laws of God, the surrounding gentile nations worshipped Baal, their “Lord of the harvest.” Seeing the peril that had fallen on Judah’s harvest, the natural question of its neighbors would have been: Why could not or why would not Jaw-weh give a bountiful harvest to His people as Baal did for his people? What was wrong with Jaw-weh that he allowed such a draught to accompany the terrible plague? Jealous for the reputation of the Lord God, Joel and God-fearing Hebrews knew that Baal was no god at all and that Jah-weh had His own reasons for His actions. They knew that Jaw- weh was omnipotent in strength, omniscient in wisdom, infinite in mercy. But still, even God-fearing Hebrews must have wondered, Why would the Lord allow so serious a plague that it would cause other nations to question His love and paternal care? After all, the Hebrews were supposed to be the medium through which God revealed His glory to the nations. If they withered and died like the grain, the nations would surely ask, Where is their God? 42 | Joel

To understand the spiritual quandary, think of your neighbors who look over your fence and into your office and ask, Where is their God? God-fearing Christians, such as you and me—each one of whom is the medium through which the Lord speaks to unbelievers. The apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Corinth of this when he likened their lives to being a letter that nonbelievers read in order to understand God:

You are our written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart (:2-3).

Paul took this responsibility to heart as much as or more than any other . He believed he was accountable for every person he met, for he saw every person as one “for whom Christ died” (I Corinthians 8:11). Therefore, first in the apostle Paul’s mind were his actions before unbelievers. To the Philippians, he wrote:

I want you to know, brethren that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of , so that it has become evident to the palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ (Philippians l:12-13).

The responses of other people to us as representatives of the Lord Jesus is all that matters. Our neighbors, friends. and coworkers read our lives. Just as the Judeans who feared God were troubled about the impressions that neighboring nations might have about God, our lives are read by all those around us, and are more easily understood than anything we say. The old saying is true: “Your actions speak so loudly that people can’t hear what you say.” But for the Judeans, the question remains: Why would the Lord allow so serious a plague Comment [V8]: This that it would cause the nations around Israel to question His love and paternal care for His exhortation is very children? Did He merely intend it to be a test of faith like the many other tests of faith endured important but it is not analogous. The Judeans had by their ancestors? no control of their situation. Paul is talking about Faith When God Is Silent behaving in a way that demonstrates God for As with the people of Judah, the test of our faith becomes most trying when we fervently pray which we do have control. If you talk about how and, still, it doesn’t appear that the Lord is listening. Of all Biblical examples, of the Old Christians also experience Testament experienced the most severe test of faith. He was only seventeen when his calamity at the hand of God, then that would be analogous. 43 | Joel sold him into slavery and soon after ended up in the dungeon. Psalm 105:18 frames a tiny window to his pitiful plight: “He was laid in irons.” Surely the Lord heard every one of Joseph’s groans and pleas while laboring as a slave and chained in the dungeon, but Joseph heard no discernable answer. After much endurance and discipline, through the gift of God, Joseph proved his worth and became the second highest authority in the kingdom of Egypt, responsible for saving both his adopted nation and his family’s homeland from the worst famine known to date in that region. He became a hero. Likewise, from the lashes of Egyptian slave masters, the children of Israel continuously pleaded for mercy to the Lord. Throughout their slavery, the Israelites suffered greatly thinking that God didn’t hear them. To pour salt into the widening wound, Moses left them, choosing to live as a Hebrew shepherd in the wilderness rather than an adopted son of royalty in ’s cushy palace. During that time, a silent heaven seemed to loom over the pleas of those still enslaved. But the Lord did hear: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). The Lord swiftly acted with relentless power in a dramatic delivery. In the time of Joel, the Judeans were terribly disheartened by the lack of divine intervention over the swarms of locusts, the withered crops, the pitifully dehydrated children and dying animals. Unbeknownst to them, the heavenly Father really was listening to their prayers but withholding His hand for reasons only known to Himself. You and I cannot explain the timetable of the Lord because we cannot fully know His purpose or plans for us. But I can try to understand His perspective. And that is what I did as a young youth leader in a mountain camp where I led initiations. On a night hike, the older campers, according to plan, slipped out of sight one by one. I likewise, hid behind a tree. When the initiates suddenly realized they were alone in the dark without knowing how to get back to camp, one boy expressed himself quite adamantly: “Mr. Ostergard is a terrible leader! He’s forgotten us and left us alone in the dark!” Little did he know that I was right beside them, unseen through the bushes. I was there for my youth and so is God. Sometimes God just wants us to be amazed by His majesty, even in the most humble of circumstances. I was assigned to a three week intensive training for non-commissioned officers. On the last day of a three-week army training, a special graduation program was scheduled at which time Lt. Marks would tell a “special story.” From 44 | Joel the moment I heard of that special story I was concerned, for I knew of the kinds of stories Lt. Marks was capable of telling. During those three weeks, I wondered what I should do: Perhaps, I should be prepared to stand up and walk out of the room in sight of the 300 men. Possibly, ask an officer to intervene. On the last night before the program, I walked down the streets in the little town of Abilene, Texas, praying. I heard no answer from the Lord. I returned to camp, went to bed, rose, and readied for the program. The heavens were silent; I had no assurance that the Lord had even heard my prayer. We entered the auditorium by units; I sat near the front. Lt. Marks was introduced amid cheers and expressed anticipation. As he walked to the podium, the most sarcastic voice spoke to me: “You have prayed, where is your God?” I did not need to wait long to know where my God was. Lt. Marks opened his mouth, but could say nothing. He apologized, for his mind went blank. He walked off the platform to a chorus of boos. Could the Lord have a purpose for hiding in my prayer for special story as well as hiding in the Judah’s prayer for locust relief? Might He not be fully omnipotent, having perfect love for us and, at the same time, have a design of His own for which His people are praying to be revealed? In our human minds, we easily come to the conclusion that God is either uncaring or unable while in the bushes, right beside us, His all-powerful hands and His all-seeing eyes have us in His all-loving, fatherly care.

The Answer Waits To Be Found

This simple explanation of God hiding behind the bushes doesn’t give us a of comfort to us when we lose our home, our food supply, our health. It would not have given relief to a distraught man named Job either. God allowed to destroy Job’s health, all of his possessions, and take the lives of his children. With almost everything of value gone, Job wrestled with the basic question of humanity. Is Jehovah all powerful but lacking in care for His creatures? Or does He truly care but lack the power? If He is both capable and willing, why does He not relieve my terrible distress? Job knew that God was all powerful, so he didn’t question that. And it seemed sheer nonsense to try reconciling his own tragedies with the justice of God. He continued in his desperate pleas and prayers, struggling to find a strand of common sense in his distress. 45 | Joel

After much internal anguish, Job rose in a mighty triumph, realizing that “He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Job saw God behind the bushes and believed he had a better plan. Another man living in turmoil was Habakkuk, a poet, musician, and philosopher in the same general period as the prophet Jeremiah (during the decline of the kingdom of Judah). Habakkuk witnessed violence, plundering, strife, and injustice all around him. The Lord blessed him with a vision of His purpose (Hab.1:5-11), but still, on behalf of the people, Habakkuk cried out to the Lord, asking the same questions: “Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore, they rejoice and are glad” (v. 13-15). After being assured by God that He would keep His promises at the appointed time, Habakkuk wrote an inspiring literary picture of faith in the throes of despair:

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Hab. 3:17-18, emphasis mine).

The answer has always come to those who wait patiently and seek it fervently, but for Joel’s people, not too soon. Based on what they saw and what Joel spoke, the people came to a reasonable conclusion.

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Scene 2 – The Day of the Lord is Coming

Blow the Trumpet in Zion

As the first morning streaks a sunlight silhouette, the Mount of Olives on the eastern horizon (see “A Walk through Ancient Jerusalem”), the assigned priest lifts his ’s horn to his lips to awaken the sleeping city. Each morning, that ”greater light” made “to rule the day” (Genesis 1:16) burst forth in a glow of color over the Mount of Olives to the east of Jerusalem, reflecting first on the hills to the west of Jerusalem, and then permeating the city itself. As in the days of creation, each day consists of an evening and a morning with special emphasis between the sunset of the sixth day and the evening of the seventh. This interval is meant to separate the days of labor from the day of worship, feasting, and resting. The clarion sound of the trumpet divided the night and the day. However, the ram’s horn called men to assembly for both serious and joyous occasions throughout the day. In times of an invasion or military threat, for instance, an assigned priest would mount the highest point of the city walls and sound the call of alarm for men to report to their posts. But, in the case of Judea during a plague of locusts, the trumpeter climbed the stone steps with a heavy foot and a depressed heart. For what purpose would any man possibly take a post? His spiritless call could only add to the gloomy situation. Had his duty been to warn of the approach of enemy soldiers descending from the Mount of Olives, he would have given a stirring call to the populous to vow to fight to the . Instead, this trumpeter’s unwanted task was to alarm the inhabitants to gather all their energies and mental resources to fight for survival against a grasshopper. But honestly, what could they do against an army of flying grasshoppers darkening the sky? Joel called the locusts “God’s army” (2:11), which is like the Lord rubbing salt in their already sore wounds. The people knew they hadn’t violated the Lord’s commands and didn’t deserve His wrath. Therefore, the only conclusion they could reasonably come to is: “The day of the Lord is coming.”

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Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming. For it is at hand; A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness spread over the mountains (Joel 2:1-2).

The day of Jehovah or the day of the Lord was a fundamental concept in the Old Testament of which Joel’s people were well acquainted. They had read Isaiah’s no doubt countless times:

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce , To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it (Isaiah 13:9).

And they understood the signs that would accompany this last day of Judgment:

For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine (Isaiah 13:10).

Knowing this, Joel’s people looked upward and saw the heavenly bodies acting strangely.

The earth quakes before them [the locusts], The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness (Joel 2:10).

Though there had been a few instances of stars darkening, it was unusual in the Old Testament. 2 The question then arises as to why the Lord would give such a fearsome experience

2 During the fire and brimstone judgment upon and during the in account, nature was destructive, but the heavenly bodies remained stable. However, some instances of heavenly disturbances are recorded: Isaiah, in a proclamation against Babylon spoke of the sun moon and stars being darkened, (13:10) and of the whole earth witnessing the sun and moon ashamed (darkened), (24:21-23). Ezekiel, in lamentation for Pharaoh speaks of putting out the light of the sun, moon and stars. (32:7) See the other reference 48 | Joel to this humble, peace-loving community of Judeans. Joel’s fearful, shaken people also asked, Why?:

The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? (Joel 2:11).

Broken spirits and slumping bodies resigned, awaiting expectant judgment, and watching what appeared in the skies to be the day of the Lord. In this twenty-first century, we fear the hurricane and wave, but if some night the stars suddenly dimmed, we would be terrified. We have scientific knowledge of the heavenly bodies, of their absolute perfection in the keeping of unchangeable schedules. We know that our Earth is subject to change; the stars are not. How frail we would admit ourselves to be if one night the Big Dipper became the Little Spoon or Venus turned grey. The Judean farmer had seen plagues, but the stability of the stars were his comfort, for they spoke of the eternal. But now, even that consolation vanished. Joel reveals the comfort that could be found in the sky, but not in the way Judah expected. Joel points to the strange actions of the heavenly bodies as he sketches a framework for unfolding the plan of salvation and the spreading of the gospel. He begins this plan with an invitation to repent.

An Invitation to Repent

A man stepped forth from the spiritless crowd. Joel, the prophet and representative of Jehovah God. ascended the temple steps. We know not if he was tall or short, or whether he could speak without a stutter, but dignity and power radiated from his bearing. He had sobbed and suffered with men and animals. On this day, though, his step had the firmness and the confidence of inward resilience. The multitude of people, drained of hope, looked to the one risen from their own community, and turned their ears to listen to the message uttered from the Eternal One.

regarding strange behavior of heavenly bodies: :10, Ezekiel 30:2f, :18ff, 15, Zephaniah 1:14f, Zechariah. 14:1; 4:5 But, the skies over Jerusalem –

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“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with , with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12).

Those are golden words, priceless words, for they came from the Lord, Jah-weh Himself. The Lord God invited His children: “Come to me; let’s talk things over” (paraphrased). The Hebrew word used here for “return” is shub , a verb appearing in the Old Testament more than a thousand times. Quoting from the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Comment [V9]: Please provide R. Laird Harns, Gleason L. The Bible is rich in idioms describing man’s responsibility in the process of Archer, Jr, and Bruce K. repentance. Such phrases would include the following: “incline your heart unto Waltke, Moodey Bible the Lord your God” ( 24:23) “circumcise yourselves to the Lord” (Jeremiah Institute of Chicago, 1980 4:14); “Break up your fallow ground” (:12) and so forth. All these expressions of man’s penitential activity, however, are subsumed and summarized Need page # by this one verb “shub.” For better than any other verb it combines in itself the two requisites of repentance; to turn from evil and to turn to the good.”

From the beginning of man and all through the Old Testament, the Lord, Jehovah God, extended His arms to sinful men. When Adam first sinned, he did not search through the garden crying, Where are you, O Lord God. It was the Creator God plaintively searching for his first child: Adam, where are you? Adam was not crushed by the sudden break-off of relationship with the Creator; rather, it was the Lord God who had been hurt by man’s breaking off of a harmonious relationship with Him. And since then, God has continuously provided opportunities for man to turn from evil or be swallowed up by it:

• God allowed the people of earth a 120-year warning regarding the flood while Noah was busy building the ark. • God would not allow Judah, who had cruelly sold Joseph into slavery, to forget the memory of his sin. Instead, the Lord caused to disturb Judah until he repented by volunteering to become a prisoner. • After his disappointing sins of adultery and murder, King David suffered mental anguish and languished in penitential prayer. His remorse, heartfelt shub, and assurance of forgiveness is found in Psalms 32 and 51.

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Throughout the ages, not many have been willing to take the initiative to repent like David did. Even so, through the Scriptures, God made numerous, specific calls to sinful man for repentance, including these:

• Isaiah made the great invitation: “Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return [ shub ] to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (:7). • Hosea was a prophet called to carry a most difficult burden. An extremely tender man, he sobbed through the night as his wife w andered the town, playing the harlot. His marital ordeal personifies wayward Israel and all of humanity as he pleads with them to return to God: “O Israel, return [ shub ] to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you, and return [shub ] to the Lord” (:1-2). • The Lord Jesus, though using a Greek rather than the Hebrew word of shub, said, “Come to Me , all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, emphasis mine).

In the final day of the Lord, with the terrible scenario of falling stars, blood on the moon, and the terrifying plagues described in the , the Father will be seeking one more repentant sinner: “Then I saw another flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). And the Bible ends in one last trumpet call: “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Go d’s command to shub is an invitation to reconciliation. The Lord kindly invites man to repent, and that repentance ensures forgiveness.

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Why Should the Judeans Repent?

The Judeans knew all about these calls to repent, but up to this point in the story, Joel had not mentioned a single sin: Why should the Lord ask us to repent? The people would ask. We haven’t been rebellious and disobedient. To a certain extent, they were right. The Judeans gave their required , ate kosher, and sang praises to the one true God—and that fed the problem. They deceived themselves with their goodness. All of their morality and religious habits blinded them to their spiritual needs. Comment [V10]: See next comment 11 below. The Lord Jesus often reminded us that good persons mistakenly think they are ready to make their final report to their Maker because they have lived good lives. But consider the tragedy of the five virgins who thought they were ready for their wedding: when the bridegroom came for them, they were found not ready at all (Matthew 25:1-30). If only we kept a scorecard of our spiritual condition like we do for our good deeds. In the competitive world of sports, scorekeepers keep meticulous records: strikeouts in baseball, free shots in basketball, touchdowns in football. Athletes know exactly how well they stand against their competitors. Unfortunately, in our spiritual lives, it’s too easy to live without keeping accurate assessments of our soul. Our religious activities, even our prayers, Bible study, and financial offerings make us think we have scored high with God, but they can smudge the scores of our actual spiritual conditions. Thankfully, God knows all. When you, I, or a whole nation begins to slip in allegiance to the Lord, the Eternal One calls us to return to His warm relationship. Our earthly fathers do the same when a son doesn’t come home at night or a daughter cheats on an exam. He desires to discipline the child as soon as possible before more mistakes are made (see Hebrews 12:7-11 as an example). That is what mature adults expect a loving father to do. Our Father God, however, also disciplines us so “that we may be partakers of His holiness.” Although painful, “afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10- 11). Generally, an individual, a nation, Joel’s countrymen, citizens of America today, or a single church, do not turn from righteousness to unrighteousness in one decision. There is a 52 | Joel compromise, a slippage, and a gradual paling of passion. In the lives of Saul, David, and other Bible characters that fell into sin, we saw how their early seeds turn of sin turned into profound problems. God’s Spirit desires to correct these problems before they happen. So He disciplines us. We might ask, why was the Lord so concerned about the Judeans that He needed to inflict on them the radical discipline of a severe plague and a drought of rain? Let us ask this question in other ways: Is a small fire near a home worthy of concern? Is a small infection in the blood stream worthy of concern? Now is always the time for concern regarding spiritual problems. To the Judean who had been careless in his devotional life, shub meant a return to fervent worship. To the Judean caught up in gossip, shub meant confession and forsaking of that sin. To the Judean engaged in deceit or theft, shub was a command to straighten out his relationships and make restitution. It is the love Comment [V11]: Above, it says that the Judeans kept of God that whispers to man, Repent; return to Me. the law. But the reader might now ask, wouldn’t these concerns be Personal example of repenting. I recall reading an example of telling a partial truth but I disobedient to the law? cannot find it. You can use any example you think is worthwhile here.

Confession Is Not Enough

God commands us to repent because He does not forgive unconfessed and unforsaken sin . Since the fall of Adam, we humans have done our best to receive His forgiveness while in our sin; but the Lord desires to lift us from our sin. Repentance is the necessary gate through which we must pass to obtain His forgiveness. Jesus invited a blind beggar to leave his rags and follow Him (:46-52). We, also, are invited to leave the rags of our former lives and follow Him. In that path will be a cross, but it is the kindness and love of our God that He extends to us the privilege of following Him—it is not the goodness of us. The apostle Paul is the supreme model of this love. He had been Saul, a highly-educated religious leader (a Pharisee of ) who believed he did the ultimate good every time he persecuted a Christian. Admittedly, he later said he was the "chief of sinners.” And so, when he wrote that the "goodness of God leads to repentance" (:4), he was speaking from an 53 | Joel intimate encounter with the Lord while on his way to persecute more Christians (see Acts 9). Paul didn’t just confess his sins, he radically reformed his thinking, his actions, his whole life.

How to Repent

Without detailing the sins of the people of Judah, God simply calls them to repent. High upon the tower, the trumpeter holding his mournful blast, bent his ears to catch the words of the figure on the Temple steps:

Turn [shub] to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping and with mourning. So rend [tear apart] your heart, and not your garments; Return [shub] to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Joel 2:12-13, emphasis mine).

There’s a certain kind of spirit that God asks his children to have as they repent: rend your heart, not your garments. God was telling the Judeans that it’s easier to do acts of penance, such as tearing (rending) their clothes or inflicting self-punishment (such as cutting themselves) than to become inwardly contrite. This was the case at the trial of Christ when the priests rent their garments in false pretence of holy shock against the claims of the defendant rather than examine their heart against His holiness (Matthew 26:65). Rending of the heart requires searching one’s own motives and conducting an intense self-examination for non-Christ-like attitudes. We must do this on a regular basis because at our best, we fall far below the righteousness required by the Lord. Consider an archer: He aims his arrow at the bull’s eye of the target and even though his aim is very good, as the arrow approaches the target, it slightly sinks—a good aim falls short of the perfect mark. Willful sin against the known will of God needs both confession and repentance before forgiveness can be given. However, I must always realize that I have actions and attitudes of which I am not aware of that are contrary to the will of God. My human reactions of a quick temper and impatience need confession, as do my falling short of all Christ-like attitudes. When I repent: I turn from these evil ways and turn toward the good, and I never stop longing for the “day when I shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is” (I :2).

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A Call for Intercession

The trumpeter, his heart lightened and energized from its depressed mood by the kindness of the Lord in His call of repentance, once again ascended the steps. His ram's horn now proclaimed life-giving hope in the words of their prophet:

Blow the trumpet in Zion Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, [Everyone is involved:] Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room (Joel 2:15-16).

The Creator invited his created to assemble. A Holy God would now talk to sinful man and perhaps finally reveal why the need for such discipline at this time. After God calls all the inhabitants, including the elderly, the nursing babes and the bride and groom, He gives the priests a special burden:

Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them, Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (2:17).

Weep between the porch and the altar. God is challenging His priests to make intercessory prayer for the people on the altar where sacrifices are made, before entering the sacred area of the temple. Seldom in the great Old Testament stage play is there a more beautiful scene. The people, the priests and , the children, even the couple newly wed, unite on their knees in humble worship.

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God’s first call to the priesthood required fasting and all-night praying (Joel 1:13-14). This second call to the priests (2:17) demanded a higher level of prayer. Joel calls for the ministry to take a stance before the Lord, insisting that the Lord spare His people.

Why Intercessory Prayer?

Of all the kinds of communication one can perform with God, intercession is the highest and most significant. Intercession is an intervention, an act of appeal on behalf of another and often at personal danger because it positions the intercessor between another person and an avenger. It is the hallowed ground of the Christian experience. The one in prayer is willing to make any sacrifice to see spiritual victory on the part of the one they are praying for. An example of a valiant intercessor is . Her husband, Nabal, had offended David by not giving food to David’s men after they had protected Nabal. David became angry and sent his men to kill Nabal. Abigail took a stand between David and her husband, interceding and pleading that David refrain from his revenge (I 25:24-31). This act displays a true intercession, although among humans and not between human and God. However, throughout the great drama of the Old Testament, individuals laid themselves out in prayer between sinful men and their Creator. These intercessors deserve to be recognized in an elite Hall of Fame of men and women who, each in their own time, held back the judgment of God. Here are my first picks for fame induction:

• Abraham, deeply concerned by the immanent judgment on Sodom, where his nephew Lot lived, dared to aggressively intercede on Lot’s behalf. He asked God to spare Sodom if fifty righteous were found (Genesis 18:24). “Shall not the judge of the earth do right?” he asked (v. 25). • Judah sold his brother, Joseph, into slavery. Many years later, Judah asked Joseph (now second in charge of all Egypt) to release his brother, , from Joseph’s servitude and take himself as a slave instead. It is a classic case of intercession. It also shows that Judah had regretted his own despicable actions many years before (Genesis 44:33).

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• Samuel lived a life of intercession between his people and God in the highest sense of the word. With heart and soul, he passionately warned them of evil ways and wisely counseled them back onto the right path. Though they did not always listen to him, in 1 Samuel 7:6, the people responded fully and displayed one of the most beautiful scenes of repentance and revival in the Scriptures: “The children of Israel said to Samuel, ‘Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the ’” (7:8). To memorialize the great victory over the Philistines, Samuel set a large stone on the land and named it Ebenezer , meaning, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (7:12). With this, he made sure the people realized that the glory goes to God and not to himself. Not only was Samuel a great intercessor, in I Samuel 12:23, he set the standard of intercession for every minister and Christian worker: “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way.” In one of the great prayers of the Old Testament, one so dramatic that the story is told two times, King Hezekiah went to the House of the Lord and prayed for the deliverance of Jerusalem from the impending invasion of the great Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:15-19; :15-20). Amos marched into the lion’s den of a desperate autocratic king and, disregarding his own life, spoke the truth. In chapter 7 of the , he uttered heart cries of intercession (vv. 2, 5), and God responded (vv. 3, 6). Isaiah painted a sad picture of backslidden Israel. But the prophet interceded. He accepted national sins as his own, using the word “our” in his prayers and not the more accurate “their”:

For our transgressions are multiplied before You. And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities , we know them (:12, emphasis mine)

The situation in Isaiah’s time was so pathetically tragic that it would take more than the greatest human prophet to restore it. The Son of God Himself would become the intercessor.

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That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him” (Isaiah 59:15-16)

Jeremiah poured out a constant stream of intercessory prayer (:14-16). So persistent and powerful was his intercession that the Lord asked him not to pray any longer for the people. Could a greater compliment ever be paid to a mortal? God said the same thing to Moses in Exodus 32:10. Jeremiah’s intercessory prayers are found in :19; 8:18-9:2; 11:14, 14:7-11, 17-22, 15:1, and 15:16-21. Ezekiel, though he was a priest himself, gave a scathing criticism of the priesthood and prophets of that day, and so did God:

I sought for a man among them [the prophets] who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one (Ezekiel 22:30, emphasis mine).

Daniel’s prayer of intercession is argumentatively the high point in Bible history, for the plan of salvation hung in the balance. Israel had been taken by Babylon into a 70-year captivity. The Israelites would have to be restored to their land before Christ could be born in Bethlehem. Daniel presented the case to God on behalf of his people, asking for mercy and for the fulfillment of the promise of the return from captivity. Like Isaiah, Daniel prayed as though the sins of his people were his own doing, repeatedly beseeching the Lord:

O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You . . . O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name” (Daniel 9:8, 19, see also all of chapter 9).

The persistent prayers of Daniel were key to the totally unprecedented action of Cyrus sending the Jews back to their homeland. Unlike other conquerors in history, Cyrus released his captives, even allowing them to take the precious golden temple dishes with them. and prayed for success in the rebuilding of Jerusalem.. Both of their intercessory prayers are in chapter 9 of their books, as are Daniel’s prayers in the ninth chapter of his book. 58 | Joel

Esther took her life in her hands when she approached King Ahasuerus, well aware of the law that she would die if the monarch did not accept her visitation. “If I perish, I perish,” she reasoned. And with that, the courageous young queen threw herself upon the mercy of a ruthless, heathen strongman with the destiny of her people resting upon her appeal (Esther 4:11; 16, 5:1- 4). Our great intercessory example in the New Testament is the apostle Paul. He makes the unbelievable statement that he would rather lose his own salvation in the Lord Jesus than have his countrymen lose theirs. I have often read this statement, marveling that Paul could make it.

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. That I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh (:2-3).

Not only did Paul’s heart ache for the condition of his brethren, he prayed continuously for them: “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11) and “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).

Example of Intercessory prayer at Kare

Our Greatest Intercessor

Though Joel didn’t see it at the time, in reality, there is only one intercessor, as stated in I Timothy 2:5: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men—the Man Christ Jesus.” The book of Hebrews paints a picture of the meaning of Christ’s intercession on our behalf—likening Jesus to the high priest . Though imperfect, Melchizedek interceded for his people with godly fear. But Jesus, our high priest, “having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (:9). All the theology for One Mediator’s plan of eternal salvation is summarized at the end of one verse: “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (:12).

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Jesus fulfilled that plan when He made His final intercessory plea hanging on the cross: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus’ intercession for us did not stop on the cross. Certainly one of the most comforting promises in the Bible is that Christ “is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). We can always pray to Jesus any time of the day or night. For the constant help and great encouragement of every child of God, there is also an unseen, ever wakeful, concerned, and powerful intercessor dwelling in us that we can rely on. We need not be confused though it is all mystery to us: the Lord Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Trinity are one, even as both intercede for us:

The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the according to the will of God (:26-27, emphasis mine).

Without Christ or the Holy Spirit in their midst, the priests of Judah interceded on behalf of the people. They wept and pleaded with God that His heritage would not be tarnished: “Spare Your people O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach” (2:17, emphasis mine). The idea that the Hebrews are the heritage of God is foundational to the relationship God has always had with His chosen people, so it’s reasonable that Joel appealed to the protection of His legacy. But little did the priests comprehend the magnitude of God’s true meaning of “heritage” in the Lord’s grand plan.

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A Call To Remember Our Heritage and Our Inheritance

The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day (Deut. 4:20).

As the children and the original heritage of God, the Hebrews always understood the concept of inheritance. Even before entering the promised land, Moses prayed for God to see His children as His inheritance: “Even though we are a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” Throughout the Old Testament, God did pardon them—over and over again—for “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people He has chosen as His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). As His children planned to move into their promised land, God commanded them not to remove the original boundary stones that marked their portion of inheritance (see Deut. 9:14, 27:17; Prov. 22:28, 23:10). Families, therefore, tilled the same ground generation after generation, stabilizing society and preserving ideals. Their inherited land represented an enduring symbol of God’s promises fulfilled. Now, in the midst of a deadly serious situation, Joel’s people assembled to fast and pray: “Spare Your people, O Lord and give not Your heritage to reproach.” Joel likely knew that without action on the part of the Lord, His people would be destroyed. His heritage would become a playground of scandal causing the neighboring nations to rejoice. That is as far as Joel’s concept of heritage goes. The priests did not realize that Old Testament Israel must give birth to New Testament Israel—the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We, the church, are redeemed, and purified human beings—we are the full heritage of the Lord God:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly , we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people , zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14, emphasis mine).

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Without worthiness on our part, we are God’s heritage—His own special people. Because we are His heritage, we can expect God to do great things for His children today just as He did for His children in Joel’s days.

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Great Things We Expect the Lord To Do

Even through His disciplining, the Lord had been watching over His heritage. As a loving Father, he had not only allowed the destructive plague, but He had carefully measured the extent of the plague. Known to Him were the number of locusts and an exact accounting of the raindrops that had been withheld. As stated in Hebrews 12:10, the Father of Spirits “for a few days chastened us as seemed best for them . . . that we may be partakers of His holiness.” Above and beyond what the Judeans could have possibly imagined, the Father continued pursuing His holy purposes. Joel proclaimed that when the testing and proving period was over, the children could expect their Father to express His love.

Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. The LORD will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. “But I will remove far from you the northern army, And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, With his face toward the eastern sea And his back toward the western sea; His stench will come up, And his foul odor will rise, Because he has done monstrous things.” Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous [great] things!” (Joel 2:18-21).

As the intercessory prayers continued, a great day of refreshing for Israel was at hand, but when?

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Great Things the Lord Has Done

First, a gentle breeze, then a noticeable cloud; a fine mist turned to steady drops; sheep and barnyard animals lifted their parched throats; old men extended their arms heavenward; women wept; excited children ran about as though they had never seen rain; farmers got soaked without thought of taking cover. Yet, it was not a storm to erode the soil away; just a good, cleansing rain. Nor did the skies clear. It was shower after shower of heaven-sent, life-giving rain. Intermittently, the glorious sun warmed the earth. Be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done marvelous [great] things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength (Joel 2:21-22).

Water. Springs. What transforming power! As the withered plants lifted their branches toward the sun, the withered joy of the people lifted their hearts heavenward. The bride could again prepare herself. The daily services of the temple could resume. Even the drunkard, (without approving of his vice) could have his desire. What a marvelous act of deity. The locusts had eaten the vegetation bare, and next year's seeds were shriveled and rotten. Yet, a gracious God spouted springs of water in the dry pastures and nurtured the vines, grain fields, and fruit trees to blossom and yield a bumper crop.

Rejoicing in the God Who Does Great Things

Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God (Joel 2:23).

While Elijah prayed on Mount Carmel for the people to know that the Lord is thee God, Joel taught his people to know that the Lord is their God: “You shall know that I am in the midst of

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Israel: I am the Lord [Jah] your God, [el]" (2:27). Even Joel’s name taught the people this truth—Jah-el. Joel’s instruction to know that the Lord is their God and that He is with them in the midst of their trials have echoed through the centuries to children of God in difficult circumstances. For the Judeans, though, who lived during "the years that the swarming locust has eaten,” of the desolation represented a promise of an impossibility. Yet, when all human solutions had vanished, the Lord restored withered life in His own wondrous ways and brought forth even greater . Hope broke through barren ground. But let us not misread God’s promise, thinking that we can waste our lives and still expect the Lord to “restore the years the locusts have eaten" (2:25). While God allowed Job to have troubles and plagues, He also restored him with increased blessings. After King David's tragic fall, he sought and received forgiveness; but David’s willful sin brought a harvest of tears and the bitter fruit of fraternal bloodshed and emotional turmoil. In Judea, though, it was the Lord who sent the locusts and it was the Lord who would restore their damage. Imagine watching plant bark completely eaten away suddenly bring forth a bumper crop. The people of ancient Jerusalem—Joel's people—wept as their eyes witnessed the bountiful harvest. For the first time, they were beginning to understand the motives of the Heavenly Father in sending the locust plague. Seeing an answer to their whys, they could lift Comment [V12]: It’s not clear what they understood. their voices and sing praise to their Creator: "Great things He has done." What is the indication that they understood the answer to their whys? What did The Day of the Lord is Still Coming they believe that answer was? During the plague, the people of Judah had resigned to seeing day of the Lord shortly come to pass. Now, the sun broke through with glorious light. Did this mean that the Lord called a halt to the strange movements of the stars because he accepted the repentance of His people? Or, was it merely a postponement, meaning that on some later day, there would be a return of the dark clouds loaded with storm and fury and the final Day of the Lord? We shall see.

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Great Things Remembered

What great things indeed God has done, both for disciplining and for blessing. So great, in fact, that these words have been picked up throughout biblical times and by holy writers throughout the ages who have declared the great things God has done. Why is this important to proclaim? Because when in the depths of despair, we must keep our hope focused on God’s all powerful sovereignty, which continuously works for the good of His heritage. We must remind ourselves of how God has restored the withered lives of so many before us. These reminders are written in poetry, in historical biography, and in song to keep in the back of our mind and forefront of our soul. For example: The prophet Jeremiah during his ministry, like a man single-handedly trying to hold back a flood, witnessed the burning of the temple and the rolling of its great stones down into the Kidron Valley and the exile of the people into the land of the Babylonians. The Jews had been utterly devastated by the fall of Jerusalem, as hopelessly withered as the olive groves and vines of Joel’s time. Yet, the impossible had happened: after seventy years of captivity, they were going home with the booty the captives stole. When in history did a conquering nation graciously allow captives to return and rebuild at the expense of the treasure of the empire? Just as incredible, world conquerors do not give back their booty, but the Jews were given back the golden vessels taken from the House of the Lord. Released, revived, and commissioned to rebuild their temple, the Israelites sang of their great joy in the 126th psalm: "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are so glad" (v. 3, emphasis mine). Psalm 126 ever afterwards has been sung on pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, the Lord Jesus at the age of twelve blended His voice with the other pilgrims, recalling the great things the Lord had done for His people. The Mary, having been told by the angel that she would have a child by the Holy Spirit, made haste to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. The Lord visited and implanted life in her barren womb long after she had resigned to childlessness. With a miraculous pregnancy of her own, Elizabeth could believe Mary’s own pregnancy. No other human being would have understood!

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Mary burst forth in praise: "My soul magnifies the Lord. . . . He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name " (:46-49, emphasis mine). The same miraculous work of the Holy Spirit is repeated every time the Lord takes a barren heart, a shattered will, and a mixed up personality and creates a new person in Christ. In her hymn, "To God be the Glory," Fanny Crosby picked up the expression of Joel so that every person born anew in Christ has the opportunity to sing His praises for they know personally and deeply that “great things He has done! "

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He hath done! 3

Certainly, another great thing God has done is to fulfill Joel’s promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But that outpouring had double significance for in Joel’s day, they too celebrated Pentecost with an outpouring—of harvest.

Another Great Thing: Pentecost

The most important Hebrew feast is the Passover, remembering the midnight hour when the blood upon the doorposts protected the firstborn’s life as the angel of death passed over. Then came the Feast of Unleavened Bread—seven days of remembrance that commemorated the journey across the to freedom. After this most significant celebration of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the people would go back to their homes and resume their arduous summer work. After seven weeks of harvest gathering (actually, seven sevens and one day later, equaling fifty days) came the Feast of Weeks, also known to them as Pentecost, a joyous celebration somewhat corresponding to our Thanksgiving.

3 Fanny Crosby, “To God Be The Glory” *** 67 | Joel

Devastated physically and emotionally, having experienced a spiritual disciplining, and having moved right up to what they had feared would be the Day of the Lord, Joel’s people had not planned on celebrating the Feast of Pentecost. But the Lord did great and marvelous things in his land. The pastures sprung up and the trees bore fruit. Miraculously, donkeys and oxen pulled carts and wagons creaked with the overload of harvest. Wine growers dumped baskets of grapes into their winepresses as the dance of the wine pressing emanated through the villages. Light from handheld lanterns dotted the night, a sight not seen for a long time with the shortage of olive oil. The spiritual renewal bound people together with warmth and love. Women heaped grain, olives, and bunches of grapes on large platters. From pottery vessels, servants poured out the fruit of the vine. Happy children skipped about. The young bride with uncontrolled tears of joy brought forth her and attire; her maidens, dressed in finery, danced to the sound of the flute and the harp; old men shook their heads in amazed gratitude; priests led the people in thankful praise to Jehovah. Personal grudges and bitter spirits washed away and schisms melted into new fellowship. It was surely one of the most joyful experiences of the Old Testament. A phrase from a song in my boyhood days rings in my memory; Joel’s Jerusalem would have heartily sung it, too, with “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). This of plenty leads Joel to reveal to his people another great thing God would do…

Another Great Thing: The Father’s Promise

Joel’s people, bursting with joy amidst a spirit of thanksgiving and revival, appropriately framed the unveiling of a marvelous prophetic promise:

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame (Joel 2:26-27).

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And within the frame of the satisfied and honored people, behold the exquisitely beautiful jewel of the Father’s Promise:

And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29, emphasis mine).

We humans are but dust, yet the infinite God has appointed us to be privileged instruments of usefulness to Him. In the Old Testament, this usefulness came only to a few men chosen by the Holy Spirit to fulfill specific tasks. Joel’s great announcement proclaimed that all men could have that same status. The Lord God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh: Gentiles as well as Hebrews, both men and women, young as well as old, and the slave and the freeman. Without justifying slavery, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would give inward peace and composure to all people regardless of being enslaved or free, young or old, man or woman. In reality, the average Christian doesn’t seem to live that way. Even though we live with this incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If we feel used by our boss, mistreated by our spouse, or suffer physical ailments, then life is without joy and power. However, Joel is predicting that if a life is a vessel into which the Holy Spirit has poured Himself—though stripped of outward human dignity—it is not the man but the Spirit of God Himself who is composed and victorious. This was certainly true of Paul and the apostles who counted all suffering for the sake of Jesus as pure joy. Comment [V13]: Why doesn’t the average Of all the prophecies in the Old Testament, this filling of the Holy Spirit is one of the Christian live this way? most unusual—the Eternal God offers a once rebellious sinful heart infinitely more than Perhaps give a contemporary example of forgiveness. He offers the unimaginable privilege of hosting the Holy Spirit as a guest within someone whose attitude one's own heart and the exalted privilege of service to the Lord Himself. changed when the Spirit filled them. Such was the promise, given in embryo to Joel—a promise of joy; but as we will see in parts 2 and 3, this was not the primary purpose.

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Another Great Thing: The Awesome Day of the Lord

Although a magnificent event, Joel’s promise is not complete with the outpouring of the Spirit. A second part of the promise is just as notable as the first—the awesome coming of the Day of the Lord:

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord (Joel 2:30-31).

We are th rilled with the powerful revelation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but why does Joel immediately speak the fearsome words about the day of the Lord? We shall understand more fully as the story unfolds.

Another Great Thing: Whoever

After predicting the coming judgment, Joel explains how mankind will survive it:

And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls (Joel 2:30-32, emphasis mine).

This all-important salvation message evolves into a golden thread that weaves itself through the Old and New Testament. One of the most notable instances is in John 3:16 when Jesus says, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” For Joel, this whoever does not apply only to the Jew who calls on the name of the Lord. While it is true that the Old Testament is a history of the children of Abraham (the Jews), God made a promise to Abraham that all the world will be blessed through him. All the world includes Gentile persons, not only in New Testament days but in the Old. Throughout Old Testament history, Jews welcomed Gentiles into their families and faith with open arms. Here are just a few of these known Gentiles who represent thousands more unknowns: Moses invited his father-in-law to “come with us” (Numbers 10:29).

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Boaz (from the royal line of Judah) married , a Gentile girl from . and Ruth became the great grandparents of David and, therefore, ancestors of the Lord Jesus. Jonah, whom the Lord sent to declare the good news in the foreign land of Nineveh, pitied a plant more than the Ninevites, but God desires the 120,000 Gentiles in that land to repent and be saved. Isaiah opened a great wide door to all Gentiles when he prophesied:

To the eunuchs [and all foreigners] who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,

Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.

Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him” (:4-8).

The prophesy of Joel opens Isaiah’s great door even wider with a hearty – W H O E V E R.

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ACT TWO - THE GIVER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PREPARES FOR THE OUTPOURING

He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. - :38

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Where Has He Been?

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be to come, yet the Holy Spirit always was—hovering and protecting, guiding and empowering. In this second part of the great stage play, we’ll discover His many activities throughout the Old and New Testaments. We’ll also relive His outpouring on the Son of God and His disciples. When we understand how and why He works in the lives of others, we can better understand and welcome His working in our own lives. Let’s begin with His supporting role beyond creation and throughout the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit remained active, both physically and symbolically:

• For 120 years, the Holy Spirit strove with men and women, urging them to listen to and heed the preaching of Noah (Genesis 6:3) so that the world would not be destroyed. • Abraham sent his faithful servant to seek a bride for Isaac. The servant was a forepicture of the Spirit seeking believers to make up the bride of the Lord Jesus (Genesis 24). • The Holy Spirit was the fiery cloud leading the Israelites through the wilderness to their promised . • The water from the rock that Moses struck in Exodus 17:6 foreshadowed the Holy Spirit pouring out from the wounded side of the Savior. • The speaks seventy-four times of fire, which represents the Holy Spirit. In chapter 6 verse 3, it says, “A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.” • The Holy Spirit came upon the judges of Israel to accomplish great things. • The Holy Spirit came upon the Hebrew prophets empowering them to proclaim God’s messages (2 Peter 1:21). • Isaiah gave the powerful prediction that the Lord Jesus would be anointed by the Holy Spirit:

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Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:1).

• The Spirit will never depart from those who are God’s children. To those who repent when the Redeemer comes to Zion, the Lord said,

My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendents . . . from this time and forevermore (Isaiah 59:21).

Ezekiel spoke of the Holy Spirit twenty-five times, often of how the Spirit physically moved him. The prophet Micah also personally experienced the Spirit working in him: “Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (:8). With the permission of King Cyrus, Zerubbabel led the Jewish people out of into Jerusalem. He brought with him gold and silver stolen from the first Temple and placed it in the , which he was instrumental in rebuilding. Yet the Lord made clear to this leader of the that he accomplished these feats “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). Clearly, the Holy Spirit actively participated in motivating and empowering men of God throughout the Old Testament to fulfill God’s plans. Yet, the Holy Spirit still hovers over creation, brooding and cherishing us with His warmth.

The Holy Spirit Worked throughout the New Testament

The Holy Spirit remained active among many New Testament personalities as well. We might think of Zacharias as being a part of the transition phase—the last of the Old Testament prophets to experience His and, at the same time, the first of the New. Soon after the birth of his son, John the Baptist, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied about the coming Redeemer (Luke 1:67-79). From then on, empowered with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, John “grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80). And

74 | Joel when the people wondered if John was the Christ, he answered them saying, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire ” (:16, emphasis mine). John could not know these things to come without the Holy Spirit working in Him. Others experienced a supernatural knowledge and conviction. To Mary, the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). , a just and devout man, had been waiting for the Messiah (also known as the Consolation of Israel) when the Holy Spirit came upon him: “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. . . . He took Him [the baby Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God” (Luke 2:25-28). The most acclaimed and praiseworthy personality of all—whom the Spirit hovered over and indwelt—is Jesus Christ, Son of God. This indwelling did not come by surprise; Isaiah foretold the great works that Jesus would do with the power of the Holy Spirit on Him when he wrote:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings . . . to heal the brokenhearted. . . to proclaim liberty. . . to comfort all who mourn . . . to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness . . .

that He may be glorified (Is. 61:1-3, emphasis mine).

When the Lord Jesus began His ministry in the Nazareth synagogue, He announced, “Today this Scripture [:1-3] is fulfilled in your hearing” (:21). Today we think of the power of the Spirit working in great evangelists like Billy Graham or a powerful singer that moves thousands to tears, but the truth is that the Spirit would like to endow every Christian to accomplish both great and small things for the glory of God. Though I have often felt the help of the Holy Spirit in teaching and in preaching, as I reflect back over the years, even more-so, the Spirit has empowered me to help individuals with words of knowledge or encouragement, often when I was not even speaking of spiritual matters. 75 | Joel

Example of having a word of knowledge or encouragement

As I reflect on the spiritual impact others have had on me, I recall a woman in our church when I was about thirteen years old. I will call her by her initials, E.C. Of all people I have known, she had the most flat personality. Even so, one afternoon, she told the children in our church to gather together. She was probably fifty or more years of age and while most teachers liked to wear a pretty blouse or jewelry, E.C. wore most ordinary dress. She had no automobile and did not offer candy or tell stories. Instead, Miss E.C. gave us cards with Scripture verses to memorize. Some kids ran all around the church that afternoon, but my sister and I learned Bible verses that have been with us all our lives. E.C. was an ordinary woman who will have a reward in Heaven for following an urge of the Holy Spirit to teach Scripture verses to children. The Spirit empowered her to do what most adults would not think possible.

The Incarnate Christ Receives the Holy Spirit

When I visited Bethlehem, the crowds pressed in to visit the highly acclaimed birthplace of the Savior. It’s only human nature, I thought. We tend to desire religious expressions and exercises while shunning reflection on our own lives. I thought about how the crowds pressed into Bethlehem during the birth of Jesus. Many found comfortable accommodations while Jesus came into the world in a meager manger. I thought of how 5,000 people crowded Jesus to hear His teaching, yet they stayed absent on His path to Gethsemane. I thought of how the crowds sang “Hosanna in the highest” on His entrance into Jerusalem and “Crucify Him” just days later. Walking quickly to move away from it all, my attention was arrested by an inconspicuous plaque on a stone wall:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. - :14

Startled , I realized that though there was no way of knowing the exact birth spot of Jesus in this little town of Bethlehem. What really mattered was that God had lived on earth: The Word

76 | Joel became flesh and dwelt among us . In the midst of our secularism, hypocrisies, hedonism, our blah appreciation for His humiliation, the Lord Jesus became incarnate, meaning in-flesh. The eternal Son of God lowered himself to be born as a child in Bethlehem. The boy Jesus who had created the heavens and earth and filled the lands, oceans, and skies with swarms of creatures also labored through thirty years of obscurity as a carpenter. When this carpenter of Nazareth was ready to begin His ministry as the second person of the Trinity, John the Baptist announced His arrival:

Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3:4-6; see also Isaiah 40:3-5).

Even the Lord incarnate needed the Holy Spirit to accomplish His ministry and the work of the Father. John the Baptist recalled how the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus:

John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34).

With His empowerment, Jesus accomplished great things, indeed. But first, He had to overcome His most ardent enemy.

The Holy Spirit Prepares Jesus for Battle

Following the : “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the ” (Matthew 4:1). This is a remarkable statement: the Holy Spirit—the Third Person of the Trinity—led the Son of God into the desert for the express purpose of being tempted by the devil. Certainly, we should take note that the Spirit will allow us, also, to be tempted by the adversary, especially before He moves us into the work of the Lord. And we can be assured that with the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s word, we can overcome all temptations just as Jesus overcame them.

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After forty days of fasting and tempting, “the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:11). “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” (Luke 4:14). In the synagogue, in his hometown of Nazareth, the Lord Jesus began His ministry by declaring His mission on earth and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-3:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted , To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD (Luke 4:18-19, emphasis mine).

Jesus’ mission statement affirms that the Holy Spirit hovered over and directed the ministry of the Son of God as He preached, healed, liberated, and went to the cross to atone for our sins. The Holy Spirit sometimes prepares us to overcome the enemy by bringing us face to face with him. But we do not defeat him on our own efforts. The Holy Spirit expects us to rely on His power in the battle. Sometimes these battles wage in the most unexpected circumstances. I recall when my Basic Training as a litter bearer (medical assistant) in the army ended. I had to undergo a 24 hour exercise in which supposedly wounded men were scattered all over rough terrain, each marked with the nature of their wounds. The day passed and it was late in the evening. I was so tired that I rested against a tree, waiting for instructions to pick up a wounded man, give him the needed first aid, and then carry him to help along with my fellow litter bearers in unit three. I had a tender conscience, though, as to what was right and wrong. I knew that in the darkness, the other three members of the unit would expect the “injured man” to walk on his own. They would not think of carrying a healthy man in the darkness over rough terrain—not if it’s just a game. I knew that if we would come upon an officer, the man would simply go back on the stretcher. 78 | Joel

What would I as a child of God do? Many honest men would just play the game and use common sense—that is, not carry the injured man if they didn’t have to. If I had not been dead tired, I might have been able to inspire my team to do what they would think ridiculous. But, I was tired. I bowed me head to pray, but I didn’t have the energy. All I could do was say the beginning, “Dear Jesus.” There I was leaning against a tree, too tired pray. The sergeant called out, “Litter bearer team three.” I rose and started to the trail. A sarcastic voice spoke to me, You tried to pray and you can’t. When you pass out of the light of this station into the darkness, you will be alone. Ten steps, nine, eight, seven, six . . ” On the count of six, a jeep pulled into the station: “Ostergard!” I stumbled up to the driver and there, with heavy eyes and heart, the driver explained the unimaginable to me. The general in command had decided to appoint an enlisted man as honorary commander-in-chief, and I had been chosen. They took me to headquarters where they explained that all duties for the day were done. While a thousand men were in the exercise all night, I slept in a tent on a thick mattress. This event is not exaggerated, for the sarcastic voice was literally counting down when the jeep drove in. That one lesson ought to be enough for this man to trust the Lord and His Spirit in every circumstance of life. How do you and I access this protective and empowering Spirit of God? Jesus tells us how.

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Jesus Teaches about the Holy Spirit

During His ministry, Jesus said a lot about how and why the Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers. The is especially helpful in understanding these teachings.

Jesus Explains How To Be Born Again

The third chapter of John capsulizes the central problem of humanity—that man is hopelessly born into darkness and sin. But God has a plan to overcome such a problem. Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the Creation of the world and gave life, so the same Holy Spirit hovers over humanity and gives life to a person dead in sin. Jesus reveals the vital work of the Spirit—the re-creation of a man of sin into a new person of Christ-like character—to a religious leader named : “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. . . .That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3, 6). Of course, Nicodemus couldn’t understand how someone could be born again from a mother’s womb. Through metaphor, Jesus tried to help this highly-trained Jewish priest understand. He said that watching the Holy Spirit is a lot like watching the wind; we can’t see either one, but we can see what the effects are of each: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (v. 8). The work of the Holy Spirit is visible even if He is not. To be born into Him and enter the kingdom of God, we must first believe in the One who gives the Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Gives the Holy Spirit

The Lord Jesus is the Light of the World and the Bread of Life, but He is not the Water of Life. Rather, the Lord Jesus is the giver of the Water of Life, which is the Holy Spirit. Water is the most common blessing in the Bible because it is an absolute necessity of life, physically and spiritually. This blessing made one of its earliest appearance in Numbers 20:8-12: The Children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea into a dry wilderness. They were thirsty so, at 80 | Joel

God’s instruction, Moses struck a rock with a rod and water gushed out. I Corinthians 10:4 records that “all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ .” The picture is clear: The Old Testament rock was Christ and from that rock flowed the water which is the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not the water, but the source of the water. When Jesus was crucified, from His riven side, water also flowed (John 19:34). Jesus continuously reminded the people that He was the source of everlasting life—the living water—the Holy Spirit. to the woman at the well, Jesus declared: “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14, emphasis mine). In a similar testimony, Jesus stood up on the last day of a great feast, and said,

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).

Water brought forth a harvest of fruit and life-giving grains for Joel’s people—a reason to celebrate at the feast of Pentecost. Likewise, the living water of the Holy Spirit would bring forth a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit at the first Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension (see ) and upon all new creations thereafter. As Paul told the new believers in Ephesus: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)” (Eph. 5:8-9). What do we do to be reborn in the Spirit and walk in the light of the Lord?

As many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

The light of the Spirit of the Lord indwelling in us allows us to worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth.

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Worshipping the Lord in Spirit and Truth

As Jesus spoke to the woman at the well and to His disciples about the life-giving water available to them, He might have also been thinking of Joel's promise: “I will pour out My Spirit in those days” not only as a source of everlasting life, but as a source of worship and praise to God the Father:

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23- 24).

We cannot receive salvation and worship God without the Holy Spirit, and only the Lord Jesus can give Him to us. It is impossible to truly worship God without Him, for as Jesus stated after feeding the 5,000, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (:63). Comment [V14]: Give a practical example from When we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, we become the temple for the Holy Spirit: your own life or someone you know of what it’s like Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from to worship in Spirit and God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify truth. God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:18-19).

There is only one way any of us could take hold of the opportunity to be reborn in the Holy Spirit and become His living temple: Jesus Christ, Son of God, had to endure the passion— the physical, spiritual, and mental suffering of the crucifixion.

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Passion Week

His last week of life started, as prophesied, with a ride on a donkey. On the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday, the multitudes spread their garments and tree branches on Jesus’ path and praised Him as their long-awaited, righteous king (Zechariah 9:9). Jesus realized that His condensation from Godhood to an incarnate man was so great that even if the people had not greeted Him, the stones would have cried out instead (Luke 19:40). His followers would have crowned Him king that day, but Jesus knew it was not His time. Instead, Matthew 21 describes how He stirred up immediate and intense hatred among the Jewish leaders when He overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple saying, “My house shall be called a ‘house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” The chief priests and the scribes grew even angrier as they watched Jesus give sight to the blind and heal the lame. And they certainly didn’t like it when the children, watching the great things Jesus was doing, cried out: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Do you hear what they are saying?” the priests asked Jesus. “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?’” (Matthew 21:13-17; :2). Jesus continued this conversation with a series of parables that only escalated the conflict, especially when He quoted Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” That very bold and open assertion that Jesus Himself was the “chief cornerstone” ignited the anger of the priests and Pharisees even more. After the Jewish leaders exhausted every argument they could muster against Him (see ), Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They understood the term “Christ” to mean the expected Messiah, so they answered that the Christ was the Son of David. Jesus then quoted David when he wrote in :1: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” Jesus asked: “If David then calls [Christ], ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

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The Pharisees knew they had been beaten, for Jesus had proven that the Messiah would not only be a powerful man to usher in a peaceful new kingdom on earth (as they were expecting), but He would also be their Lord. No one asked Jesus any more questions after that. (You can read the entire confrontation in Matthew 22:42-44, :35-37, and :41- 44.) Unfortunately, winning the arguments did not stop His crucifixion.

Weeping from the Mount of Olives

On Tuesday night of His last week, on the way to Bethany for a day of rest, Jesus passed over the Mount of Olives with His disciples. When Isaiah, Daniel, or one of the other great of the Old Testament looked over the spectacular view of Jerusalem from the Olivet summit, they were moved with emotion at the sight of the temple, which stood on Mount Moriah. Reminders of all the details of Israel’s history spanned the horizon. Now, in His time, the Lord Jesus overlooked the temple where priests and Levites were preparing for the Passover. He could trace the path He would shortly tread from Pilate's judgment hall, dragging a cross along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, the "place of a skull." Nearby was a garden and a tomb, which He would use for a few hours. But such thoughts were quickly replaced by the sad and tragic reality that “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). The Savior was emotionally, deeply disturbed, for He could see the death and destruction that lay ahead for His people and on several occasions, He expressed His sorrow for them:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (:37-39).

And again:

If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation (Luke 19:42-44).

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From that emotional experience on the Olivet summit, surely the humanity of the God- man would think forward to when His earthly work would be finished. He would ascend to the right hand of the Father and someday, at a date only known to the Father, He would again return wrapped in clouds of glory. But for a few more days, important work remained for Him on earth. On Wednesday night and through most of the day on Thursday, it is quite probable that Jesus rested in the home of His close friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany along the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives. Then, later in the day, “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7), Jesus walked the path over the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley into Jerusalem. There, He led His disciples up the stone staircase to the Upper Room. Though inwardly shuddering at the thought of what would soon come, the Master remained poised, intently ready to begin the ordeal.

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The Upper Room

The Old Testament Passover and the New

For a good part of two thousand years, the Jewish people had celebrated Passover—the night in Egypt when the enslaved Jews brushed blood on the doorposts so the death angel would pass over their households and spare their first-born sons. That blood was also a symbolic sacrifice of redemption from sin. Having such importance, the Lord was quite specific about when and how the Passover meal should be observed and what should happen with the uneaten meat of the lamb:

On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it” (Numbers 9:11-12, emphasis mine).

In true obedience to the Levitcal law,, the Lord Jesus would celebrate for a final time the Old Testament Passover and for the first time the Lord’s Supper ushering in the New Testament. Thus, that final Passover celebration transitioned into the New Covenant, just as Jeremiah wrote about:

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (:31-3).

The of Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us a peak into the evening in which the Master celebrated the Passover with His disciples. An ordering of the events as they happened help us understand better the significance of this most precious meal:

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Alfred Edersheim in his “Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah” describes in detail the Old Testament Passover (Rev. Alfred Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,Vol II, p. 504 ff. Longmans,Green, andCo. LondonandBombay, 1904 Comment [V15]: Is this resource a side note or is The Master had looked forward to sharing the Passover meal with His disciples and they the information in the rest had prepared the meal with all its symbolism: a lamb slain as a token of redemption from sin. of this section taken from this source? Jesus would partake of the lamb as an Old Testament man, truly a God-man amongst men. In that sacred hour, the disciples were arguing among themselves concerning who was the greatests (Luke 22:24-30). The Lord Jesus arose, took a towel and a bowl of water and began to wash the feet of the disciples. Tenderly, without rebuking them, the Lord Jesus reiterated His principle of greatness through service. To the uneasiness of His disciples, the Lord Jesus washed their feet, teaching us that we always should be quick to serve one another. Comment [V16]: Luke says this happened after There is another lesson Jesus was teaching through His service. In that day, even after sharing the bread and cup. bathing, the people walked over dusty roads. Upon entering a house, cleansing the feet would ensure that the entire body was clean. So Jesus told his disciples, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, [then he] is completely clean” (John 13:10). Spiritually speaking, Jesus is reminding His disciples that even if they are about to be been bathed and cleansed by His blood, they will still need constant washing from the “dust of the road”—their daily sins. From the beginning of the celebration, the Lord Jesus was troubled in spirit for evil permeated the room. He had been conscious of the betrayer even as He washed Judas’ feet. Finally, He could hold back no longer; He said to Judas, “What you do, do quickly” (John 13:27). Judas left into the night but, even as he departed, the disciples still didn’t understand what Judas was about to do. With Judas gone from the room, a weight of oppression lifted from the Master’s Spirit as he proclaimed, “Now the is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately” (John 13:31-32). Glorification is the spreading of radiant splendor but, in all truth, it is beyond my ability to adequately describe, for I can only dimly imagine what it might mean for God to glorify the Lord Jesus. I will say, though, that God the Father had sent His Son into the world to be horribly mistreated and the Son had obeyed. It was the willing, cheerful obedience of the Son of God in His incarnation and humiliation that magnified and intensified the glorification of the Father and the Son. 87 | Joel

Jesus Celebrates the New Covenant

Having celebrated the Old Testament Passover with His disciples, the Lord Jesus celebrated the New Covenant, in which eleven men would have communion and become one in fellowship with their Master. They would be purged of their selfish interests, and their hearts and ambitions would become one with the Lord’s. They would symbolically drink of His cup—His shed blood. By doing so, they would receive the benefits of that shed blood—forgiveness, eternal life, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They would also have in common with Him the spirit of total consecration or blessing. When the Lord Jesus fed the 5,000, He prayed and blessed the bread. It was His blessing that made the difference between ordinary morsels of food and crumbs that could be broken to feed multitudes. In the New Covenant with their Lord, the disciples would also be blessed and broken so they could feed the multitudes. What a lesson for us! Only when we are blessed and broken are we of value. When I visited the Garden of Gethsemane thirty years ago, I took along with me a cup from my home, In the Garden, I was deeply conscious that His cup was full of gall, of rejection and brutal torture. My cup over these years is still full of shame, unworthiness and blah appreciation. However, His cup, along with the gall, was brimming over with joy—joy that inspired Him to endure. His joy has overflowed into my heart and bubbled up to an unspeakable measure. Think with me for a moment of the wonderful feeling that must have energized the spirit of the Master as He spoke these words. “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). Until that day comes, my Lord asks every disciple of His to share the communion cup with Him.

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Jesus Establishes the New Covenant

During Passover in the Upper Room, Jesus Christ symbolically fulfilled the Old Testament Covenant—He became the lamb who would be slain the following day for the redemption of sin. With the Old Covenant only hours away from being fulfilled, Jesus established the New Testament Covenant with His disciples:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).

This commandment was not necessarily new, for the Levitical law also said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (:18). However, we all know how hard it is in our own strength to unselfishly love some people. In fact, without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible.

Jesus Teaches about the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

The disciples don’t realize it yet, but Jesus would soon give them the promise of the Holy Spirit to help them fulfill His commandment and to help them understand the mysteries they could not understand before. Jesus gave the first hint of this help when he said,

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you ; I will come to you (John 14:15-18).

Jesus explained that when the helper comes, they would no longer have doubts about Him or His purpose because He would be in them. “At that day [at the time of Joel’s great outpouring], you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the disciples would become a sacred union—the Father, the Son, and the disciples. In the Upper Room, this spiritual truth was still too difficult for the disciples to understand, so Jesus tried to explain it another way: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We [the Father and Jesus] will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). 89 | Joel

With God living (or abiding) in the disciples, certainly they would be able to love others as Jesus loved them. But there’s one more thing the disciples needed to do: they also needed to abide in Him: “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10). Jesus did not only say these things to help His disciples know how to love one another; Jesus was also teaching them how to know and experience true joy: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). The requirement in the Old Covenant was to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The New Covenant comes with the same lofty requirement, but we have the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ to inspire us, and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit to empower us to represent His love to the world.

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The Disciples Ask…

Throughout the Upper Room discourse, Jesus continuously told the disciples spiritual truths that they were not yet ready to understand, such as this:

Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:33).

To help their understanding, the disciples asked Jesus questions that you or I might have also asked. His answers (recorded throughout the Gospel of John) unfold the Father’s promise not only for the disciples but for each of us.

Peter asks, “Where are you going?” (John 13:36).

The complex theological answer is that, with His redemption work complete, the Master is ready to return to the Father’s house with the long sought and dearly purchased treasure—“a people for His own possession” (Ex. 15:16; Titus 2:14). This explanation would also be beyond the disciple’s understanding, so Jesus simply tells Peter that he cannot follow Him right now. Peter, envisioning the Master walking into the fierce, hateful opposition of the Jews rather than His home in Heaven, makes this rash declaration in support of his friend: “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus, knowing this to be a shallow boast, replies with words that have enlightened millions in their dark hours of passing:

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you (14:1-2).

It is an unbelievable promise—Jesus has personally prepared a place for us and will receive us to Himself. After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter understood this promise fully. But on that night, Peter could not grasp its significance and neither could Thomas.

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Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)

Thomas not only wants to know where the mansions are but also how to get there. To the troubled mind of this man, with everything he loved in his life crumbling around him, Jesus answers:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (14:6, emphasis mine).

Without the Spirit, Thomas could not fully appreciate the profound meaning of this statement. The Lord Jesus is saying that He is how to get there—to the mansions. He is also saying that He is all they need to rely on and abide in—an eternal person with three separate and yet united personas:

I am the Way - follow Me

I am the Truth - believe Me

I am the Life – abide in Me

Thomas could not analyze Jesus’ words like this. Instead, over the next twenty-four hours, he would see the One whom he believed was the Messiah strung upon a cross; he would also see darkness triumph. But, while evil was momentarily triumphing, the Son of God declared . . .

I Am

Thomas might have been looking for a visible sign to mark the way to truth and life , but once the Spirit of the Lord enters Him, Thomas would know that the Spirit of Jesus is the light of His truth that glows in every Spirit-filled believer. This light will point out errors that can cause detours and derailments, helping the believer stay on the right path toward the giver of life . Jesus wants to give us this life—His life—in abundance (see John 10:10). Jesus explained the way to the Father another way, although it didn’t help his disciples very much:

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him (14:7). 92 | Joel

Philip asks, “Show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8).

Show us the Father? Jesus just got through saying that seeing Him is the same as seeing the Father. The Lord Jesus, though, is patient and longsuffering and answered Philip with a tender rebuke summing up the past three years of His ministry:

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do , because I go to My Father (14:9- 12, emphasis mine).

Greater works than these? “Impossible!” we say. What could Jesus have meant? Simply put, Jesus, although God, was just one man on earth doing the will of the Father, one work at a time. When the Holy Spirit comes, Philip would become a member of a spiritual body of which Christ is the living head and that spiritual body would reach infinite numbers of persons, able to accomplish great works. Jesus assured the disciples of this not only by giving them the Holy Spirit as their helper, but also this promise:

Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do.

That promise is as good as a signed, blank check. However, let us not misunderstand. This promise is not given to all people for the benefit of all their pursuits; it is meant for those who are living and working for the glorification of the Father: “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13, emphasis mine). Even with this promise, Philip and the disciples were probably getting quite nervous about how they were going to accomplish all these great works. After all, they were used to going to Jesus for help in every situation, from casting out demons to understanding his parables. As He would no longer be with them, how could any of them ask Jesus for anything? 93 | Joel

Jesus Tells Them about His Replacement

In an hour when they thought He was abandoning them, Jesus answered, "I will not leave you orphanos" (John 14:18, emphasis mine). This is one Greek word for which we need not guess the beautiful meaning. Nevertheless, that was how they felt—like children suddenly bereft of parents. So Jesus reassured them of the Helper who would take His place.

I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (14:16).

Jesus was only one man and could only help one disciple at a time, but when the Another comes, He remarkably would be with all of them at the same time and with millions of believers around the globe. Best of all, that Another would abide with them forever. The Greek word for “Helper” is paraclete. Thayer, in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, gives the meaning as “called to one’s side; called to one’s aid; one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate . . . a helper, succourer, aider, assistant.”4 In the , the word “Comforter” is used instead of “Helper,” a term suggesting consolation in times of sorrow and grief, but the term is much more inclusive. The Holy Spirit takes the physical place of Christ. Christ leaves; the Holy Spirit enters. The “Comforter” or “Helper” is also used in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7 as One who gives wisdom, encouragement, inspiration, enlightenment, and inward joy to the disciples—all things that Christ gave them while He was with them. Jesus continued to explain how the Holy Spirit would manifest Jesus in them and through them:

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day [when you receive the Holy Spirit], you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

4 Thayer's Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1886 , s.v. “ Parakletos ,” Lexicon- Concordance Online Bible, accessed December 12, 2011, http://lexiconcordance.com/greek/3875.html . 94 | Joel

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him (John 14:19-21).

The closeness that the disciples would have with the Father once they received the Holy Spirit would be beyond any of their earthly comprehensions. Of course, they could not comprehend this, so a fourth question was asked.

Judas (not Iscariot) asks, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” (14:22).

This disciple who was also called Judas (not the betrayer) might have phrased his question this way: “Master, for three years, we disciples have walked and slept with you, sailed the Sea of Galilee with you, sorrowed and rejoiced with you. It is not quite logical or good that all other people will not be able to know you as we have.” Jesus might have answered: “Don’t worry about that. The Promise of my Father—of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Joel prophesied—is for every person on the globe so that they can have the same experience that you disciples have enjoyed.” Rightfully, the privilege of the indwelt Spirit is for all people and, in His own words, the Lord Jesus reiterated this:

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him (14:23, emphasis mine).

“Anyone” here means anyone . This widespread receipt of the Father was desired as far back as Moses; he thought it would be good if all the Lord’s people were prophets (Numbers 11:26-29). Moses’ desire was about to be fulfilled: the Lord would soon make His home in all who keep His word and love Him. The Greek word used for “home” is the same word used for the mansions in heaven that Jesus is preparing for us. The Father and the Son would make their home/mansion in every disciple. Prophet Joel knew that the Spirit would be poured upon all flesh, but Joel could not have realized that the Lord God Himself would make a home in the hearts of all believers—and

95 | Joel neither could the disciples. Since the concept was unfathomable, the Lord Jesus explained it to them by one his most beautiful illustrations—the vine and the branches In the days of Joel, every home had a vineyard, and it was still so in the days of Jesus. Because it was such a staple of society, Jesus used the vine to illustrate the mystical meaning of two or more personalities inter-dwelling each other—the incredible possibility of human and Deity becoming part of one another. We are branches; He is the whole vine; we become intimately part of Him. As we drink in His life-flowing energy, our branches bear His fruit. He nurtures us. He grows us. He accepts us as part of Him. No longer do we have to worry about not being chosen for the team. Our Lord chooses every one of His followers to be a part of His team for His fruit-bearing work: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (15:16). It is not you and I who choose to be in the service of the Son of God, it is He who chooses us. He appoints each of us to a specific place in His kingdom for the specific purpose of bearing fruit. And He equips us to do so, not only with His Spirit but by telling us the things He has heard from our Father. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (15:25). We know that Jesus is our friend because “greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (15:13). Jesus certainly laid down His life for us, and He extends the offer for us to be friends with Him as well. To become His friend, He does not ask us to lay down our physical life, but He does ask for a spiritual commitment: “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (15:14). When it comes to our Lord and Savior who died for us, keeping His Word is the least we can do for Him. It is the contract we sign between our spirit and His Spirit so that He will make His home in us.

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The Spirit of Truth

The most important designation for the Holy Spirit is that He is the Spirit of Truth. The most important trait of one who desires to be a spiritual person is that he/she is sensitive to the voice of the Spirit of Truth. Therefore, the most serious danger to spiritual life is to be dull of hearing to the voice of the Spirit of Truth (Hebrews 5:11). A housewife, for instance, who keeps her home reasonably clean, might be a little uncomfortable with a guest who notices every unorganized pile of papers and fingerprint on her window. When it comes to the home of my heart, though, I invite the Spirit of Truth in so that He will point out every selfish thought, bitter reaction, and effort to mislead others or shade the meaning of a statement in my favor. If I do not respond to His voice by heeding His criticisms, He cannot fulfill His office in my life. If I do not listen, He will leave. If I conscientiously listen, the door is open to the great. blessings and privileges that are mine when the Helper is in control. Look again at the great promises of John 14:12-13, which are open to all of us if we allow the Spirit of Truth to monitor our actions:

He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

In my office at home, a large pendulum hangs in a frame with these words: “Thy Word is Truth.” The most important feature of the Christian’s life is the response to the nudging of the Spirit of Truth. Truth, especially regarding one’s own spiritual condition, is the single quality that gives a Christian stability and stature. When a person allows a false perception to become a defense mechanism in his/her view of himself/herself, it is a cancer that destroys character. Therefore, truth, facing one’s self is the single most important step in seeking the Holy Spirit. Even though I know this to be true, when a criticism is made of myself, I still build defense mechanisms:  I can make semi-logical statements that see myself in better light.  I can increase my Bible study.  I can be more fervent in prayer and worship. Quoting or singing a worship. 97 | Joel

 hymn more reverently and passionately can give me an emotional life  I can become a zealot in advocating spiritual things.  And—worst of all, I can find something wrong in someone else.

Implementing even one of these defense mechanisms covers my spiritual conscience with a protective film. With every new defense, coating after coating builds up, shielding myself from the light of spiritual truth, yet I remain in the ministry. I vividly recall this happening when Kare leaders placed several criticisms on me. Though I felt they were largely untrue, I realized that I did have serious deficiencies besides the ones they mentioned. Comment [V17]: Do you want to mention one? What, specifically, did you The apostle John emphasizes the importance of truth by his frequent usage of the term in do about it? contrast to the other Gospel writers:

Table 1: Appearances of “Truth” in the four Gospels

Truth as a Noun Adjective Adverb Total In Matthew, 28 chapters 2 0 3 5 In Mark, 16 chapters 4 0 2 6 In Luke, 24 chapters 3 1 3 7 In John, 21 chapters 37 8 9 54 of John, 7 chapters 23 4 1 28

Here are just a few of the fifty-four Scriptures in the Gospel of John that reveal Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit as Truth: • Applied by the Holy Spirit, Truth is the all-potent antidote: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). • Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6). • When Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (18:37).

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• Jesus said, “The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (14:17). • Jesus also said, “When He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. . . . when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak” (16:8-13). In general, the Scriptures about the Holy Spirit have to do with His relationship to the believer. But in the last Scripture above, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin . This Scripture is unique in that the Spirit will give the disciples an offensive edge in their conflicts with unbelievers. Hold this thought in mind for that part of our story (see page ***). After Jesus explained how the Spirit would convict the world of sin, He went on to say,

A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me because I go to the Father (16:16).

This prediction led the disciples into the fifth and last question of the night:

All the disciples ask among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’? (16:17). Jesus tried to correct their earthly misunderstanding with an analogy that they would likewise also not understand until after the Spirit had filled them:

Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Jesus then assured them again of the power of praying in His name:

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (16:23-24).

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The Lord Jesus concluded His discourse in the Upper Room with these parting words to His disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, emphasis mine). The beloved Son of the Father, the Angel of the Covenant, the Lord of Creation left the Upper Room with His disciples. They made their way down the slope to the bottom of the ravine, crossed the Kidron Valley, and ascended part of the way up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane.

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The High Priest Prays

Somewhere, possibly in the Garden, the Lord Jesus offered His High Priestly prayer to the judicial Lord of the Universe. Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed:

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:1-5).

While making that prayer on earth, Jesus was at the same time assuming His office as the Eternal Priest at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Jesus continues praying throughout chapter 17 on behalf of the eleven remaining disciples and all who will follow in their steps. It is a prayer for their sanctification and for their service in the Master’s work in a world of rebellion.

Jesus Prays for the World’s Spirit of Rebellion

Throughout His prayer, Jesus speaks with an increasing intensity regarding conflict with the world, or kosmos—a spirit of non-conformity to the will of the Creator. In His great prayer, Jesus speaks twelve times of the world’s spirit of rebellion with the Father:

v. 6: I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. v. 9: I do not pray for the world. v. 11: I am no longer in the world, but these [disciples] are in the world. v. 12: I was with them in the world. v. 13: And these things I speak in the world. v. 14: And the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

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v. 15: I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. v. 16:They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. v. 18: As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.. v. 21: …that the world may believe that You sent Me. v. 23: …that the world may know that You have sent Me. v. 25: The world has not known You.

Jesus’ prayer for His disciples and for us is that the world, which despises the truth, would come to believe in the truth because they see Jesus in every one of His believers. Who is a believer? Through His prayer, we know the criteria for being a believer that Jesus approves of. Comment [V18]: Apply this to the reader.

Jesus Pays High Compliments to His Disciples

In the High Priestly Prayer, the Lord Jesus paid high complements to the disciples for six reasons: v. 6: They have kept Your word. v. 8: I have given to them the words which you have given Me; and they have received them. v. 8: They have believed that You sent Me. v. 9: They are Yours. v. 10: I am glorified in them. v. 14: The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Jesus Intercedes for Himself and for Us

Even though Jesus is Lord, He is also our Intercessor and in His final hours, thought it necessary to intercede for His disciples and for us on a few important matters:

v. 11: Keep through Your name those whom You have given Me. v. 13: That they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

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v. 15: I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Jesus especially prayed for oneness with the Father among all of His believers:

v. 11: That they may be one. v. 21: That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. v. 22: That they may be one just as We are one. v. 17: Sanctity them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth;

This kind of oneness is made possible by sanctification. The Old Testament word “sanctify” meant to consecrate and separate from the common or profane. To accomplish this, the Levitical law required ceremonial litany and sacrifices, but Old Testament saints expressed heartfelt desire for an inward purity that no anointing of oil or animal sacrifice could accomplish. The Holy Spirit would bring this sanctification into the heart of every believer He indwells. Through purity of heart, believers could experience oneness with the love and truth of Jesus. Only the Spirit of Truth can bring about this king of unity for in no way could the disciples do it on their own--and neither can we or should we. We are but an assistant in the great plan of the Master Architect. When writer and master architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed one of his legendary buildings, all of his personality, experience, love of literature, and love of life flowed through every mark of his pen and every curvature of his arches. But he likely left some tasks to his trainees, such as a young assistant who might design for him a simple closet shelf. Though the novice loved his work, it is incomparable to the master’s love of architecture. The master does not expect his level of love to be expressed at this stage in His young trainee’s career. But there is one indispensable quality the assistant must possess: he must not reflect himself in any way onto the work of the master or take credit for the work. Instead, in his tiny contribution to the whole work, he becomes one in spirit with the master.

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The novice architect cannot breathe the same love of the project the master breathes, but he must make a concentrated effort to work toward his master’s desires and uplift his master’s reputation. At the same time, he must renounce any desire for receiving any part of the glory for the master’s finished creation. I must admit a personal problem. Often, when the Lord has helped me in some special way to achieve something for Him, I shamefully find myself taking a little of the credit. I remind myself of the lightning bug who was teaching her offspring a light dance. Suddenly, an aurora streaked across the sky and the little lightning bug bragged, “Mother, look what I did!” May the Lord forgive me and help me to give all credit and glory to Him. Some say we should desire to share the glory of God because in Leviticus 11:44, He told us to. While it is true that God said, “Be holy for I am holy,” it is blasphemous for me to envision myself holy in the same way that God is holy. However, it is also true that in the single aspect of desiring to glorify God through my very tiny human efforts, I can be holy—that is, free from self-interest. Sanctification is holiness, which is the purging of attitudes that are not in harmony with those of Christ. In no way could the disciples purge their own hearts of their self-centeredness. The Spirit of Truth would have to bring about this unity. In His outpouring on the day of Pentecost, the self-centered desires among the disciples would disappear. As the disciples saw their carnal hearts and confessed their selfishness, the Holy Spirit purified them and made them one with the Father in purpose and missionary effort. Jesus raises the Old Testament meaning of “sanctification” beyond a mere separation from the profane to a refinement and purification of the inner spirit. Thus, Jesus as High Priest prayed for

Himself : Jesus prayed for sanctification in the Old Testament meaning of consecration. He was setting Himself apart as the consecrated lamb of the Old Covenant. The New Testament meaning of purifying and making holy would not apply to Him, for He was innate holiness.

The disciples : Jesus held a deeper meaning of sanctification for His disciples than ceremony and dedicatory prayers could accomplish. Jesus prayed that they would be 104 | Joel

sanctified by “truth.” Truth is metaphysical. The Spirit of God sanctifies by daily cleansing, by x-rays of the heart, and by the believer yielding to truth.

All the world : Jesus prayed in verse 20, “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given me.” That sounds strange to us, but the Lord Jesus follows in verse 21 and makes it clear “that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ” When the Spirit is outpoured upon His disciples, unbelievers will note the difference in the lives of the followers of the Master. Their oneness of purpose will persuade the world to believe.

The great prayer of Christ would not be fulfilled that night. His disciples would abandon Him in their hour of temptation, clearly showing they were not yet ready for the great task that lay ahead of them. But, as the Master had promised, Joel’s prophesy would soon be fulfilled— the Holy Spirit would be poured out on them and that experience would change their priorities forever.

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The Final Acts

The Passover Lamb Thirsts

On that last Passover, the Judean priests had said their prayers to sanctify, in the ceremonial sense, the Passover lamb that would be slain in accordance with the Old Covenant ritual. They had no clue that the Servant of the Lord, as He is called in Isaiah, would also be “led to the slaughter” to a place called Golgotha to be the true Passover Lamb for the ratification of the New Covenant (:11, 14). Mocked and nailed to wood, nonbelievers argued that His apparent helplessness was final proof that He was not the Son of God. However, they failed to see how Psalm 22, Psalm 69, Isaiah 53, and other Old Testament references remarkably detailed His suffering: bones out of joint, thorns piercing His brow, hanging from a cross by nails, throbbing nerves. Of the seven phrases that Jesus spoke on the cross, one opened a tiny window, significantly revealing His suffering: “I thirst.” We do not realize how the severe dehydration added to the torture. The Psalmist understood, though: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death” (Psalm 22:15). Thirst is a symbol of man’s need for fellowship with his Creator. The human spirit, not knowing or recognizing the Creator/God, thirsts for pleasure, luxury, popularity, and stimulants that might satisfy the inward void. The Lord Jesus, the Man/God, “was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). Since Jesus represented man in his rebellion against God, it was quite fitting that He should experience complete dehydration. His thirst was a necessary part of His suffering.

It Is Finished

Led by the priests, the spiritual leaders of the Old Covenant, the blood-thirsty multitudes scoffed and ridiculed. Nature answered their taunts as darkness settled at midday, and the earth quaked.

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Father, “into your hands I commit My Spirit” (Luke 23:46, quoting from Psalm 31:5).

The thousands of visitors in the city shook their heads and beat their breasts. The veil of the temple tore from the top to the bottom without being touched by human hand, but even that unusual miracle could not awaken the brazen stubbornness of the Jewish priests. A soldier pierced His side. Water spilled forth—that marvelous cleansing, healing, transforming water that only Jesus could give—along with His blood, thus ratifying the New Covenant. One great hymn expresses the significance of the life-giving water pouring out to the Israelites from the rock struck by Moses in Exodus 17:6 and the life-giving water pouring out from the pierced side of the Savior:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed Be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure. 5

We must not miss the double cure of the life-giving water 1. Saving us from wrath—redemption 2. Making us pure—sanctification The bodies of Jesus and the two thieves were removed by sundown, lest they defile the Levitical laws. It was a restless, uneasy Sabbath; yea, a Sabbath of tortured minds and consciences.

Jesus Rises

An earthquake jolted the city. Strange reports buzzed. People long dead came out of the tombs and entered the city (Matthew 27:53). Most astounding, sealed in a tomb and guarded by soldiers, the crucified king of the Jews had reportedly risen.

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Now the first day of the week went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead (John 20:1-9).

Unreal. Unfathomable. Unmistakable. The tomb stood empty. The disciples stood in shock. They had not understood—even after everything Jesus had taught them in the Upper Room. We can’t really blame them. After all, their Lord, their Messiah, the Son of the Living God had been crucified as a despised criminal.

Jesus Gives the Holy Spirit

That evening, on the first day of the week, fearful and powerless disciples assembled behind closed doors. There, in the midst of them, appeared their Lord who said, “‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord” (John 20:19-20). “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:21-22). Thus, just as the life-giving water and Holy Spirit flowed forth from the Rock, the Holy Spirit flowed from the Second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ (Exodus 17:6, Numbers 20:8-12; I Corinthians 10:4). Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon His disciples; however, the Holy Spirit did not descend upon them in His fullness until the Day of Pentecost. From the time that the disciples

108 | Joel had first responded to His invitation to follow Him, the Holy Spirit would be with them to help them overcome their internal problems, such as their self-centeredness. On this occasion in which the Lord Jesus breathed upon them, they had not yet fully yielded to the Holy Spirit. That would come at Pentecost.

Jesus Reaffirms the Disciples

The last chapter of John tells of another appearance of the Lord to His disciples. Seven of the disciples were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. Even though their nightlong efforts had caught nothing, a voice from the shore directed them once again to cast their net. As they drew it in, heavy with fish, one shouted, “It’s the Lord!” All of them (except Peter who swam to shore) rowed back with 153 fish. Jesus waited with a fire barbequing His own catch. However, with consideration for the efforts they had sustained, He invited them to bring their own fish to be barbecued along with His. How meaningful is the story to a child of God! When we, with contrition, repent, the Lord Jesus forgives and restores. The life of following the Savior is one of finding little surprises and unexpected blessings. When I was in the U.S. Army, I tried hard to be a good representative of my Lord, but one day, I missed an announcement and was severely reprimanded. I had a heavy heart, but I also had a pass to go into town that evening to see a high school football game. Would the first sergeant allow me to go after my problem? I wondered. Could I get to the game on time? Could I make it back to the base on time? I hesitated and then decided to go. I arrived at the game before they opened the gates and thoroughly enjoyed it. I made it back to the base in good time, too. Things worked out so beautifully that I knew the Lord was giving extra pleasure to one who was ashamed of his actions. To the depth that we have sorrow over our own sins, we will appreciate the ring of confidence in the words the Savior spoke to Peter:

Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, Comment [V19]: Be and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish (John 21:18). explicit about why

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Today, as an old man, I find real meaning in the words of the Master to Peter. In younger days, I wanted to “gird myself,” but over the years I have learned to do things that I one time would have avoided. The words of Jesus to Peter give the essence of life of following the Master. Comment [V20]: Give examples. It’s not clear how this is connected to the The Disciples Long for The Kingdom Now Scripture.

For forty days after the resurrection, the Savior appeared many times in different locations to • Mary Magdalene • Two disciples on the • Peter • Ten disciples (with Thomas absent) • All eleven disciples • James, the brother of our Lord • Seven disciples, who were fishing in Galilee (John 21) • 500 persons (I Corinthians 15:6) Throughout many of these appearances, the disciples remained skeptical and depressed. They had cut down palm branches and joined in the chorus of hosannas when the Master had entered Jerusalem. Though Jesus had told them repeatedly that He would be rejected by His own people and put to death, they placed their unrealistic hopes and faith in Him as the Messiah who would restore the Kingdom of God and be crowned King of Israel as Isaiah foretold:

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of [the Messiah-the Christ] . . . The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom . . . The Spirit of counsel and might . . . The Spirit of knowledge . . . He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes . . . Nor decide by the hearing of His ears . . . Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins . . . The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb . . . A little child shall lead them . . . The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. - Isaiah 11:1-9 110 | Joel

The disciples on the Mount of Olives passionately wanted to see fulfillment of Isaiah’s Messianic Kingdom, but crucifixion transformed hope and passion into deep despair—for awhile. Touching His wounds and partaking of meals with their risen Master, proved to them that their Christ, their Messiah, had triumphed over death. If the disciples were willing to crown the Lord Jesus King of Israel on Palm Sunday, how much more would they zealously want to crown Him now, an absolute victor over death? So they asked Jesus the all-important question:

Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)

Why couldn’t the Lord Jesus answer, “Yes, I will. Hand me my crown!” I’m so glad He didn’t, for if the Lord Jesus established God’s Kingdom in Israel 2,000 years ago, only a portion of Jews and some Gentiles would be in God’s kingdom. Most importantly, you, I, and billions of other gentiles would be out of luck. Being out of luck has never been God’s plan. In the Old Testament, the Lord God promised to Abraham a great nation. That is true, but that nation is not only Israel. Devout Hebrews still do not understand that the Lord had chosen Israel as the family through whom all the world could be blessed. As Isaiah said,

“There shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him” (Is. 1:9).

Even though the Scriptures speak of it, the patriotic Hebrews were so enthralled with the idea of the Messianic reign that they pass over inclusion of the Gentiles in other Scriptures as well:

Isaiah 41:6: I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles.

Isaiah 42:1: Behold! My Servant, whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

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I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles

Isaiah 49:6: I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth (verse quoted by the apostle Paul in Acts. 1:47).

Isaiah 60:3: The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isaiah 62:2: The Gentiles shall see you righteousness, And all kings your glory.

Isaiah 66:19: And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.

With God’s plan to bless all the nations through Israel not yet completed (or even started), Jesus answered the disciple’s question simply: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Instead of telling them when He would set up God’s kingdom, Jesus told them over and over what their part in the great plan was. In a final, beautiful appearance recorded in Luke 24:36-43, the disciples are still troubled and doubtful, so Jesus again shows them His hands and His feet. Then, to establish rapport with them, He asks for something to eat. They give Him broiled fish and honeycomb.

He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 112 | Joel

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-48).

In the Upper Room, Jesus called them witnesses: “You will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15:27). The disciples were expert witnesses for they had followed the Master for three years and had seen Him crucified and risen from the grave. Now, Jesus commissioned the disciples to witness to others. The Greek word for witness is martus from which we get the word “martyr.” John was exiled, but the other ten disciples died as . Empowered with the truth of the Spirit, their deaths became a witness to the truth and life-changing power of Christ in their lives. Since then, many thousands of men and women have witnessed to the nations through their martyrdom. Where does this kind of witnessing power come from?

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Clothed with Power

Jesus expressed the words of prophet Joel within the beautiful terminology: "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high " (Luke 24:49, emphasis mine). What a beautiful promise the Father has given us! We will be “endued,” that is “clothed” with power. The Greek word for power is dunamos from which we get “dynamite.” The Promise of the Father is that we will be clothed with power. Joshua did not make the sun stand still; David did not kill Goliath. They were clothed with power belonging to another. You shall receive power ” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit gives unlimited, spiritual power to our spirits to do what the Spirit directs.

Application/Example of when you or a Kare leader felt the clothing of the Holy Spirit to say or do something spiritually significant

Until the disciples could experience such power, they had to tarry in the city of Jerusalem. This is not easy for us humans. We like responses now; whereas, the Lord has His timetable, which is not tuned to our emotions. We cannot understand why Moses had to tarry and wait forty years. Nor can we patiently wait when we are ready to move.

Application/Example of when you or a Kare leader had to wait for the clothing of power

The Purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Great Valley

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit gives power to witness. We human beings want power to do all sorts of great things, but the Spirit gives power for one purpose—to pay any price for the proclamation of the Great Commission—to fulfill the plan of blessing all the nations with the good news of the gospel. This power is most evident in the early church, when the apostles Paul, Peter, and others were given the power to suffer imprisonment, scourging, and martyrdom for the purpose of witnessing. 114 | Joel

Establishing God’s plan for the salvation of the world has always been the primary concern of Jesus. So after telling the disciple’s not to be concerned about the timing of the coming Kingdom of God, Jesus put their minds back onto His plan, saying,

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

Now, when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:8-11).

When missionaries retell the events of Jesus commission to the disciples, they sometimes also retell this :

Two angels greeted the Lord Jesus as He ascended into Heaven and asked Him, “You are depending upon those eleven disciples to spread the gospel; what is your plan should they fail?” His answer: “I have no other plan.”

Unreasonable or not to have no other plan, the Lord Jesus depends upon frail men to do the work of great men. The Lord gives jobs bigger than we are, challenging, stretching, and helping us do the impossible. This was certainly true when Jesus sent out His disciples two by two into the villages telling them to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead” (Matthew 10:8). The disciples would again be healing, not only physically but spiritually. How many doctors would it take to vaccinate the world from spiritual death? Joel announced that every child of God will play a role in proclaiming the gospel to lost souls. Joel laid the responsibility to cure dead hearts and spirits upon every one of us who claims the benefits of the Savior's death. There are no freeloaders. The message of the Lord Jesus Christ is still simple, powerful, profoundly clear:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

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Go—go into all the world. But before daring to start such a feat,“tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49), and “wait for the Promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). With these instructions, the apostles returned to the Upper Room in Jerusalem with great joy (Luke 24:52) and “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14.) allowing the Spirit of Truth to search their motives and aspirations with His holy penetrating light of truth. They sought the discipline and pruning by the Master Gardner confessing every motive and attitude not in conformance to the spirit of the Lord Jesus. This "one accord" is incredibly revealing. The Greek word is a compound word, the first half of which is homo from which we get the word “homogenized.” As a child, I watched my mother pour off the cream, which had risen to the top of the raw milk. Later, homogenization in the milk factory redistributed the cream so that it and the milk became one. Even as milk and cream do not unite, neither did the disciples—not really. Even under the tutelage of the Master, each one had sought his own way and looked out for their own interests. But, under the searching and cleansing work of the Spirit of Truth, they became homogenized. , confession, and abiding is the price to be paid by a person or body of persons seeking the Holy Spirit—and that’s what he disciples practiced. In the Upper Room, “His winnowing fan was in [Jesus’] hand, and He was thoroughly cleaning out His threshing floor, and gathering the wheat into His barn; while burning the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:16-17).

Personal or Kare leader example of being homogenized or in one accord

You might think that “one accord” means “agreement on all things,” but it does not. I might disagree on many things with a brother in Christ, but the most important thing is to be of one accord with him on the submission of mind, spirit, and body to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Part Three, we’ll see how the apostles Paul and Mark found themselves in the middle of a great disagreement; yet, driven by the spirit, they disagreed with harmony. With one mind, one spirit, one heart, the fearful, slow-to-believe, self centered disciples were about to undergo a metamorphism and become men and women who would shake the

116 | Joel nations. Their world-reforming-message of the death and resurrection of the Son of God would cause the calendar to be rewritten and Joel’s word would go to every part of the globe: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (2:32).

The Work of the Holy Spirit

As we move into the climax of the great play, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit’s power, keep in mind that you and I have access to Him now. As we journey through the Great Valley toward the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord, God provided the Holy Spirit to rely on in so many ways:

• He is the Paraclete , our Helper. • He is the Another who will be with every believer in Christ’s place, always. • He is the Guide. The Greek word for “guide” is hodegos which is related to hodos meaning “way.” He is the hodegos along the hodos. • He is the lamp, bringing to light our weaknesses, attitudes of pride, selfishness, and unconfessed sins. • He is the Vinedresser, cutting away branches and pruning those that bear fruit. • He is the Guest within our heart (14:23). • He is the Teacher who will bring all the things to the disciples’ remembrance that the Master taught them (John 14:26). • He is the Peace Giver: “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (14:27). • He is the One who convicts: “He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (16:8). • He is the Spirit of Truth: “He will guide [hodegeo] you into all truth” (16:13). • He is the power to witness.

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ACT THREE – THE HOLY SPIRIT POURS OUT

I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh

Your sons and daughters, your old men,

Young men menservants, maidservants

And it shall come to pass that whoever

Calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved

- Joel 2:28, 32

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The Holy Spirit has appeared and critical stages in God’s plan for humanity, from the formation of the earth to the empowerment of prophets to the conception of the Savior Himself. However, before the day of Pentecost, few had the privilege to feel the Spirit’s movement in their lives. With the fulfillment of the Promise of the Father, all that would change, and it had to change for the Great Commission to be fulfilled. However, many of us don’t know how truly remarkable the Promise is—how the events of Joel’s short three chapters have been unfolding since the day of Pentecost and will continue to unfold until the coming of the day of the Lord. To know Joel’s prophecy is to know God’s plan and purpose for our lives.

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Feast of Pentecost: Past and Future

In the latter days of the Old Testament during the Roman occupation of Judea, there was a Diaspora, or spreading, of the Jewish people into other countries quite distant from Jerusalem. Though these distant Jews did not always go to Jerusalem for the Passover, they looked forward to the restoration of Israel; that hope had been reawakened by a Nazarene carpenter who had reportedly done so many . They heard that He fed 5,000 persons, calmed the turbulent Sea of Galilee, cured lepers, and raised the dead. When they also heard of the bitter hatred of the priests and leaders against Jesus, they attended the Passover before His death in larger than ordinary numbers. After the crucifixion, as the Jews were departing to their homes, they began hearing of the strangest report of all—the crucified one had risen from the grave. With that electrifying piece of information stored in their souls, they returned to their homes and began the arduous work of harvesting their crops and gathering the first ripe ears of barley as an to the Lord. This offering occurred during the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost . The Hebrews celebrated Pentecost in a similar way to our traditional Thanksgiving. Unable to forget the scenes and clear their heads of confused thoughts, the great throngs that had attended the Passover labored in their fields through the fifty days of summer heat. Ordinarily, most families would celebrate the Pentecost in their own homes and communities but, on this occasion, their hearts pulled them back to Jerusalem to know the truth. The arrived in Jerusalem with minds still bewildered, still smitten by the news of a risen Christ. Venturing outside the gate, the visitors in Jerusalem relived the Golgotha scenes, the angry taunts and mindless torture of the quiet, gentle teacher and His earnest prayer that the Father would forgive His tormentors. Their ears reheard the passionate cry of loneliness, expressing that God had forsaken Him. The visitors in Jerusalem felt again the eloquent dignity of the sufferer. Questions, stories, and explanations buzzed with fresh reports of Jesus’ appearance circulating every day. On one occasion during the weeks following the crucifixion, five hundred

120 | Joel people had seen the resurrected Nazarene. Others recounted that He had come through the walls of a building. And some witnesses described how He had been taken up into Heaven. In Jerusalem that year, the Holy Spirit gathered together an extraordinary crowd so that they would have a part in the great beginning of the New Testament Church—and they were not disappointed.

Pentecost Arrives with Fire

The people have gathered. The disciples have prayed. Men and women who by nature thought first of themselves became of one accord, consumed by the desire to do the will of Jesus and wait for the clothing of power to spread the gospel.

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, [the disciples] were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them (Acts 2:1-4).

With a rush of mighty wind and tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit assumes the supervision and direction of the New Testament Church. Why make such an entrance with fire? One answer is that it was part of the plan. John the Baptist told us, “[Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16). Fire purifies and in the Old Testament, fire symbolized the beginning of a relationship of God the Father with humanity:

• during the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15). • with the call of the Lord to Moses (Ex. 3:2 ff). • at the institution of the (Lev. 9:15). • at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 7:1). • at the restoration of the blessing to David after his sin in the matter of numbering of the people (1 Chron. 21:26). • when Elijah restored the altar for northern Israel (1 Kings 18:38).

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• and regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, Malachi spoke of the fire, “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launders’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver” (Mal. 3:2-3).

Purifying, initiating, restoring fire now rested upon the first men and women of Christ’s church infusing them with the power and gifts they would need to carry out their mission:

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in , Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and , Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from , both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine” (Acts 2:5-13).

Amazed and perplexed, devout persons from at least sixteen nations of the civilized world heard, in their own languages, the “wonderful works of God.” Certainly these people would have been included in Joel’s “whoever .”

What Could It All Mean?

The Holy Spirit gave the disciples a special gift, helping them to speak in foreign languages that they had never learned. With this supernatural ability, they could immediately begin the fulfillment of the Great Commission by sharing the good news with Jewish representatives from each of the countries that traveled to Jerusalem. The disciples didn’t share the good news in a formal, ritualistic way as they were accustomed to in the temple. Although temple worship was beautiful and inspiring, the Holy 122 | Joel

Spirit infused great expressions of joy, earnest excitement, and personalities aflame with the utterance of what had happened. This was the kind of joy Jesus prayed for in His high priestly prayer of John 17, and that prayer was most certainly answered on this great day. Jesus also prayed that the world would know that Jesus was sent by God through the actions and words of the disciples. By homogenizing the disciples into one accord, bestowing gifts of healing, tongues, and an understanding of the gospel, and infusing boldness to proclaim it, the world would see and come to know Jesus. But not so fast. The visiting Jews were still amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocked saying, “They are full of new wine.” So Peter stood up to preach—and quite a sermon, too.

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The Promise of the Father Revealed

Standing in front of the crowd, Peter “raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. - Acts 2:17-21

Why did Peter quote the whole prophesy of Joel, even the part about blood and fire and smoke? What does the awesome day of the Lord have to do with the supernatural empowerment that had fallen on them? In time, the connection will be apparent. Peter does, however, close the

124 | Joel promise with the famous line that has everything to do with this power and the first Pentecost of the New Testament—whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Peter Explains the Resurrection of Christ

Peter could not stop there. He could not do otherwise than speak of the most dramatic experience—the resurrection of the one he had seen crucified. So, he reminded the people that even the greatly revered King David had believed, by a vision of faith, in the resurrection of his own body and that of Christ. Peter again raises his voice:

David says concerning Him [the Christ] “I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence”

- Acts 2:25-8, referring to Psalm 16: 8-11

For David to reach that victory of faith—writing with assurance that his body would rise from the dead—was like Job making his triumphant claim: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and . . . in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-26). But the visitors still didn’t understand. So Peter continued to rely on the authority of King David to make his case.

Peter Explains That Jesus Sits at the Right Hand of God

Peter reminded the crowd of Psalm 110:1 in which David exalted Christ to the right hand of the Father:

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This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:32-36).

Peter Explains That Jesus Is Lord

Peter reminded his Jewish listeners of the last verbal conflict that the Lord Jesus had with the Jewish hierarchy. Jesus asked them how the Christ could be both David’s son and David’s Lord. The leaders could not answer (see Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42). By reminding the Jewish elders of their losing argument with Jesus, Peter was pressing them to answer this very sensitive question in light of the resurrection: How could Jesus be David’s Lord and his son at the same time; unless, of course, Jesus is Lord!

Peter Explains What the People Should Do Now

Finally, the people were starting to understand. Cut to the heart, the people cried out: “What shall we do?” Peter answered their plea for salvation:

Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call (Acts 2:38-9).

That day, three thousand people (mostly Jews) were added to the one hundred and twenty Upper Room disciples. From then on, the early church was “continuing daily with one accord” (Acts 2:46) and with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on each of them.

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The Holy Spirit: Fully Engaged

That great day of preaching in many languages began a series of miracles. Soon after Pentecost, Peter and John, in the name of Jesus Christ, healed a man (Acts 3:1-10). Of course, the accosted them for this, but Peter exuded an entirely different persona from the man who had denied the Savior. Filled with the Holy Spirit, (Acts 4:8) he defended Christ boldly:

Peter and John answered and said to [the Sanhedrin], “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done (Acts 4:19-21).

Since the members of the Sanhedrin Court sat in the authority of their first lawgiver, Moses, Peter appealed to him:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:22-23; quoting Deut. 18:15, 18-19).

Using Moses to condemn the Sanhedrin didn’t help Peter’s cause. He and John were arrested, spent the night in prison, and in the morning stood before Annas, the high priest. Peter said to him and the other leaders,

Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone (Acts 4:10- 11).

In Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost, he reminded the Jewish people that the Christ is not just a son of David but also Lord. Now Peter reminds the Jewish leaders that Jesus is Lord and that the children of Israel made Him the “rejected stone” of Psalm 118:22. Peter did not hesitate in using this agitator of an argument knowing that the Jewish leaders would only become more bitter.

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However, it was necessary for Peter to be so bold. Jesus told the disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, he would “convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). That promise was fulfilled as Peter and John addressed the Jewish elders and lawmakers. Another important thing happened at that meeting. “When [the leaders] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit became apparent to even the high court of the land, though they did not understand it the way Peter and John now understood it. The Sanhedrin realized that the people in the city supported the disciples, so instead of punishing them, the court decided to severely threaten them and let them go. The disciples left with these parting words: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge” (Acts 4:19). Reminded of Psalm 2:1-2, Peter and John returned to the other disciples and reported what had happened:

Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ (Acts 4:25-26).

The prophecy of this psalm had been fulfilled: that day, the rulers gathered together and raged against the Lord. And, in the place where they assembled, Joel’s prophecy was also being fulfilled. The room was shaken. All were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. The number of people in the church that day grew to five thousand. People sold their possessions to help those who had need. Barnabas, having land, sold it, and laid the money at the feet of the apostles. In contrast, Ananias and Sapphira only gave part of their proceeds and upon lying about it to Peter and the Spirit of the Lord, they were struck dead. The power of the Holy Spirit on the apostles became so strong that even Peter’s shadow healed people. The high priests, not filled with the Holy Spirit, became exceedingly jealous. Again, they arrested the apostles and put them in prison (Acts 5:17-42). Not only was the Spirit 128 | Joel of the Lord with them, but also the angels. In the morning, the officers found the doors locked and guarded but the apostles were missing. An had opened the doors of the prison, and they immediately went to teach in the temple. Brought again to the high priest, Peter said, “We ought to obey God rather than men. . . . we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” But the Council weren’t moved. The un-Spirit-filled plotted to kill the Spirit-filled. One well-respected teacher of the law made a case for the apostles. He reminded the council of two other men who (like Jesus) had great followings, but after they died the movement came to nothing. “If this work is of men,” the teacher said. “It will come to nothing, but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it” (Acts 5:38-39). The council compromised. After a good flogging, they released Peter and the others “and daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42).

Personal examples of you or Kare leaders being persecuted for faith and/or boldy speaking with power of Holy Spirit

The miracles, boldness, and protection of the Holy Spirit in this very early church period is recorded throughout the book of Acts. But many ask, “Why is this book so focused on Peter and John and not on the other first apostles?” Perhaps they ask because they worry that the Holy Spirit’s clothing of power is only for a select few.

Do you have a personal example where you or Kare leader thought you weren’t as worthy of the Holy Spirit or as empowered as other Christians?

Let’s see if this is true.

The Works of Peter and John in the

The Holy Spirit filled all the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost and the Lord Jesus placed on all of their shoulders the work of spreading the Good News. But except for Peter 129 | Joel and John, we are told little about the other disciples. We know that James, the brother of John, was slain with a sword by Herod (Acts 12:1-2). Other writings and traditions relate that all the disciples, except John, died by martyrdom. That is all interesting information that fulfills a certain amount of curiosity, but the Acts of the Apostles was not written for our curiosity. It was written to recount the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ordinary men and women. God used the deeds of Peter and John as primary illustrations, but they are by no means the only illustrations. As the Holy Spirit worked mightily in the lives of Peter and John, we can be confident that He worked in similar fashion in each of the lives of the one hundred and twenty that were in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, according to their various personalities.

How does the Holy Spirit work through your personality in contrast to another leader at the youth league?

I have not written about the working of the Holy Spirit in my life until now and most of the apostles did not write about themselves either, but someday we will know the story of how the Spirit used the hitherto slow-to-believe Thomas and how the Spirit blossomed forth in the lives of the other disciples. Someday we will also learn how the Spirit used millions of Christians of whom only a handful make the news. With the acts of Peter and John recorded forever, we can understand how the Holy Spirit wants to empower and work through us. Comment [V21]: This seems out of place in this discussion of the day of Pentecost and the days following.

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How the Holy Spirit Works in Believers

This look at the Holy Spirit in the lives of Peter and John reflects how the Holy Spirit can work in you and me if we let Him, for the same Holy Spirit in them is the same Holy Spirit that hovered the waters of creation and indwells you and me. Three of these works are most significant: First, The Paraclete, the Another Person, the Helper truly accompanied the apostles as intimately and as powerfully as Jesus of Nazareth would have accompanied them had He remained on earth. The disciples were able to ask anything they needed, according to His will, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and their prayers were answered just as Jesus promised they would be. Example of praying in the name of the Lord

Second, Jesus’ high priestly Prayer of John 17 was also answered: the self-centered disciples were “sanctified by truth” and came into absolute unity with the Father in their concentrated effort to proclaim the message of the crucified and resurrected Lord.

Example of the boys or the leaders coming into unity for the mission of Jesus.

Third, Jesus promised the disciples during the that they would do works as great as Jesus Himself would do (John 14:12). Certainly, reading the marvelous accounts in the Acts of the Apostles, we recognize that great things were accomplished—just as great as if the Son of God had been there in person: • The apostles had been appointed to bear fruit and were successful to an unbelievable degree, bringing thousands of Jews and Gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ, starting churches, and training leaders. • The Master had left upon them the mantel of His peace in the midst of trouble, suffering imprisonment and hatred with great joy.

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• The world hated them, making the presence of the Holy Spirit more precious. They separated themselves from the world and became one in the Spirit of God. • The Holy Spirit manifested Himself in convicting and reproving power, so much so that Peter confronted both the religious leaders and the visiting Jews with equal tenacity and authority. Comment [V22]: You can, if you want, give a brief personal example or Today, Christians are tempted to seek some of the outward signs of the outpouring of the Kare example for each of these points? Holy Spirit: the tongues of flames upon their shoulders, the speaking in many languages, the healings. While it makes for a lively discussion, it is beyond the scope of this book. The focus here is the transformational power that the Holy Spirit wants to give every Christian. How unfortunate it is that so many followers of Jesus are going to heaven without experiencing the life that God planned for them in eternity past. We must remind ourselves that the greatest miracle of Pentecost was the transformation in the hearts of the disciples—the washing away of self-interest, and the unity of working together toward the Great Mission of God. This difference in the hearts and minds of the apostles was even noted by the Jewish rulers: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13, emphasis mine).

Have you witnessed a dramatic transformation in the boldness that a Kare youth has before and after the indwelling?

This filling with the Holy Spirit is not for the spiritual recluse or hermit. It is a promised Comment [V23]: I added these two paragraphs from blessing for every heart; but my heart is heavy, for I see so many ministry leaders living below your email of 12/2. their privileges in grace. Yes, they are followers of the Lord, but they are not moving ahead. In the , the Lord implores the Israelites and their leader, Joshua, to move on into —a complete yielding to the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. So many friends have come to the Lord and are serving Him, but I fear that some of them will be like the Comment [V24]: In what way? What specifically do five foolish virgins in Matthew *** who missed their own wedding. They do not face themselves you want to see them do? Is as the Master addressed disciples in the Upper Room. there an example? This can be made general and not referring to your friends. 132 | Joel

Perhaps no heart or mind has been transformed as drastically and dramatically with such incredible fruit as the apostle Paul’s.

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The Holy Spirit Descended upon the Apostle Paul

Very few of us will ever have a conviction for sin and absolute surrender that remotely compares to that of the great apostle Paul upon his own personal “day of Pentecost.” We, admittedly, are more like the pre-Pentecostal Peter than a post-Pentecostal Peter—a hard-working disciple with little understanding or power. Before his conversion, Paul worked hard, too. Known as Saul of Tarsus, he admitted, “I punished [Christians] often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (Acts 26:11). On his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians, a great light knocked the enraged fanatical Saul to the ground. “Who are you, Lord?” he gasped. “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” Lying on the dirt road, Saul asked the most important question he would ever ask till he would bow his neck to be slain by Nero, paying his final homage, “What will You have me to do?” Though we cannot duplicate his personality and powerful decisive leadership, we should pray that we learn from Paul how to submit and depend upon the Holy Spirit as we boldly proclaim the Lord Jesus.

The Holy Spirit Sends Forth Paul and Barnabas

Most of the time, the Holy Spirit empowers us to make disciples where we work and live; some He selects to travel afar:

In the church that was at there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. And they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away (Acts 13:1-3, emphasis mine).

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The Spirit’s direction to “separate” Barnabus and Saul (Paul) from the rest of the disciples reveals the intentions of God’s ambassadors. The Greek word for “separate” is aphorize from which we get the word “horizon”—the junction between earth and sky. The call of the Spirit put a boundary between ordinary lives and Spirit-filled lives. The spiritual separation from ordinary living was the reason for the phenomenal ministry of Paul and his ability to withstand

at Lystra,

beating with rods at Philippi,

mobbing in city after city,

mocking in Athens,

bitter fighting where he started churches,

imprisonment and, in the end, martyrdom.

Even with all these obstacles, the apostle relied on the Holy Spirit and succeeded in the good work that the Lord started in Him. In city after city, conscious of his humanity and limitations of the flesh, the man commissioned by the Lord Jesus marched against and royally triumphed over the strongholds of and immorality. He started churches wherever he went, bringing life to dead souls. Even with so much success, he entered the great intellectual center of Corinth expressing his total inadequacy:

God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty (I Cor. 1:27).

Paul knew that when the Spirit of God is in a man, that man speaks with the wisdom of the Spirit of God and not his own (1 Cor. 2:11). So Paul emphasized to the new Christians in Corinth that he had come to them “in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling” (I Cor. 2:3) and not on his own merits. When the Holy Spirit indwells a man who totally depends upon Him like Paul did, that man is endued with wisdom beyond the thinking of ordinary men. 135 | Joel

Personal example where you spoke words of wisdom not of your own thinking

Unfortunately, the early Christians in Corinth did not develop this wisdom, even though it was readily accessible to them. The young Christians that Paul shepherded were still carnal persons. Though born of the Spirit, they engaged in , strife, and division. They had to be fed spiritual milk rather than solid food. And instead of acting like spiritual people, they behaved like “mere persons” (I Cor. 3:3). A literal wording of this phrase is “walking according to man.” When we have confidence in ourselves, we really are mere men , walking according to natural human reactions. When we live in the Spirit, we are more than mere men , for the Spirit of God moves in us. This is the essence of Paul’s ministry and the central theme of his second letter to the Church of Corinth.

Paul Writes about the Power of Weakness

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is self-revealing, laying bare the sentiments and aspirations of the apostle. We hear his heart beat. We feel his pulse. We hear his inner cry for complete control by the Holy Spirit. And as he is controlled by the Holy Spirit, one central theme runs throughout his letters that we should apply to our own ministry: we who seek the full blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives should remember that our success is related to our consciousness of our own weakness and reliance upon God.

Personal example related to successfully sharing the Gospel when feeling too weak to do so.

Who could possibly be entrusted to share the Gospel with people who must decide to either be saved or perish? Who could be sufficient for that purpose? Paul answers, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (3:5). Paul adds that God made us sufficient as “ministers of the New covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (3:6). Paul is trying to explain to the new Christians why he has been so successful in ministry—it is the Spirit who gives life and makes us sufficient to complete the work of the 136 | Joel

Great Commission, to spread the Good News to all the world because God put His treasure in earthly vessels of breakable people like Paul, Peter, John, you, and me. Chapters three to five of Paul’s letter are a lovely passage as beautiful as any literature ever written, describing the treasure and its earthly vessels. With that treasure inside of us, we are being transformed into a glory that only Moses encountered when he met God face to face. While Moses had to veil his face when talking to God, we of the New Testament “with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (3:18). Let us take notice. With the Holy Spirit’s treasure inside of us, we truly are “being transformed.” We aren’t yet the finished product, but we are not to “lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing” for “the inward man is being renewed day by day” (4:16). We are in an “earthly tent” and though we feel naked as we contemplate facing our holy God, we will one day be clothed with a “habitation which is from heaven” (5:2-3). “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). As we cleanse our spirits and strive toward holiness, we must do so with limitations in our bodies and our minds as Paul did. No statement in Paul’s letters is more important than 2 Cor. 12:8-9. After pleading with the Lord to remove a , he wrote: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And Comment [V25]: NKJ uses “pleaded” He said to me, ”My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Personal example of you or Kare leader ministering in weakness

We who seek the full blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives should remember that our success is related to our consciousness of our own weakness and reliance upon God, who is Spirit, and upon His grace. We know we are relying on the Holy Spirit when we stop relying not only on ourselves, but on the rules and rituals of men.

Old Testament Laws and the Chosen People of Israel Comment [V26]: I removed this section from Part 3. I’m really not sure where it could fit.

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Division Threatens the Church

Before Pentecost, the most divisive threat to the apostles’ unity was that of self-importance; after Pentecost, it was religious dogma—a powerful, deep-rooted idea of the superiority of the Old Testament religious system. We cannot blame Peter and his allies, for they had been taught all of their lives to obey Levitical rituals in which, for example, certain foods were unclean for Jews to eat. Devout Hebrews like Peter would have to learn that the Levitical litany would give way to New Testament freedom. The Old Testament rules had became a dogmatic division that would eventually cause the New Testament church to die in birth pangs. Comment [V27]: Give brief explanation of what However, the early Church had a great advantage. Even though there have been constant this refers to. divisions and schisms throughout Church history, in the early Church, the Holy Spirit remained in complete charge, orchestrating events and persons. In Peter’s case, the Holy Spirit gave him a a vision of clean and unclean animals comingling together:

And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times (:13-16).

The Holy Spirit intervened to correct Peter’s thinking about what he could and couldn’t eat so he could put his efforts into more important endeavors like winning souls. In reflecting back over my life, I recall a series of events where the Lord helped me in an unusual way in my work with the Kare Youth League. Just before the events began, the Holy Spirit whispered to me that I should make a change in a financial businessI had begun investing in rental property under what I believed to be the guidance and blessing of the Lord and it was remarkable that I had as much success. Had I just held on to what I already owned, I would be a somewhat wealthy, retired man. One day, I read :4: “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” The verse struck home. I had become entangled with the affairs of this life. Immediately, I was ashamed for I was a minister of the Lord Jesus engaged full-time in the development of the Kare Youth League 138 | Joel various building projects and teaching duties. I could not do both and remain in the light of the Spirit. Though this was one of the most important decisions, if not the most spiritual decision I would ever make, I made no comment about it to anyone. I immediately began to sell my properties and stopped purchasing more. My shame when I realized the extent to which I was involved with business helped me make an all-the-difference-in-the-world-decision. It was not a hard decision; it was just a Comment [V28]: What was the consequence of reaction to a reminder of the Holy Spirit that I was a minister of the Gospel, not a businessman. selling the properties? That was the spiritual truth. With that decision made, I was more capable of hearing the nudging of the Spirit and following Him into a series of incredible providences: Briefly list the providences of the various Kare endeavors that followed.

From my present vista point of the age of 90 years, reflecting upon that decision, I am most thankful for the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Seeing the fruit of hundreds of youth and their leaders have shown the wisdom of leaving worldly investment. This kind of holy intervention is still available to those who seek it. When corrected by the Holy Spirit, a person either gains energy for the future or loses spiritual strength. I fear that many ministers of the gospel have kept their protective coatings against the penetrating light of the Spirit and, therefore, have lost their spiritual strength. Peter, on the other hand, gave up his law-centered ideals and accepted the truth that the Spirit of God revealed to him. Once he changed his thinking to that of God, he could march into his own series of God-ordained providences. The same power and providence is available to every worker of God. We just have to claim the Spirit’s truth and make it our own.

What about the Gentiles?

The spiritual truth of Peter’s vision did not only pertain to food. It revealed who God had chosen as His children. Peter realized that all who believe in the purifying blood of Christ were royalty in God’s court—not just the Jews anymore.

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While Peter was learning this, Paul and Barnabus, on their first missionary journey, were tearing down the walls of separation between Jew and Gentile, bringing both to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone. No other requirements were made of them. The rest of the disciples, though, were still struggling with the “rules” for accepting Gentiles into the Church. Several said only Gentiles who were circumcised and kept kosher could enter the church. Even so, on their return to Jerusalem in Acts 15, the other apostles arranged a conference for the single purpose of reaching agreement on the topic of great disagreement—should Gentiles be fully accepted into the church without obedience to the Levitical rules? Like many churches today who disagree on who can become a church member or even enter its building, a disagreement on who can join the New Testament church and receive the full benefits of salvation could have destroyed the unified group of Christians. But the Holy Spirit, still in charge, prepared Peter and Paul to testify on His behalf before the conference even started. Peter told the men of his vision of clean and unclean animals and the voice that assured him that all were now clean—meaning Gentiles, too. Paul and Barnabas reported of the wonderful acceptance of the Gospel by the Gentiles throughout many cities. James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, rose to make his decision. (James had gained support and earned a special influence over the most ardent followers of the Old Covenant.) In his decision, James quoted the Prophet Amos who clearly spoke of the Lord calling out the Gentiles to be a people for His own:

After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name. Says the Lord who does all these things (Acts 15:16, quoting :11-12, emphasis mine). Hearts yielded to testimonies of the truth by Peter, Paul, James, and Amos. The leaders drafted a letter to the Gentiles making clear their full acceptance into the New Covenant without the need to be circumcised or follow other Levitical laws (see Acts 15 for a reprint of this letter). The Jerusalem Conference that began with the threat of an impregnable roadblock, ended in a beautiful sunset of peaceful harmony. This typifies the work manifested by the Holy Spirit: 140 | Joel guiding, directing, and melting hard-held notions and stubborn opinions. However, this beautiful harmony immediately yielded to strife between two key disciples.

Paul and Barnabas Part Company

It is true that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost made the disciples of one accord in the furtherance of the Gospel, but it is also true that each disciple remained a different personality and each disagreed on matters of policy and procedure. The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas of Acts 15 is a prime example. The Jerusalem Conference had just ended. The two great missionaries stood shoulder to shoulder as soldiers of the cross in obedience to the Great Commission. They even discussed the need to visit the towns where they had previously preached to see how the people were getting along. Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark, his nephew and an original apostle of Jesus. Paul strongly objected. Paul knew that John Mark was in the garden with the Lord Jesus on the night of his arrest and fled from the soldiers with Peter. While Peter had been transformed on the day of Pentecost into a man who could stand under persecution, Mark abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary trip. On that journey, when Paul was stoned at Lystra, it is quite possible that Paul was happy that Mark had returned home for he might have failed in his hour of trial. Barnabas, whose name means “son of consolation” desperately desired to give Mark another chance. We do not know Paul’s thinking, but knowing that they would expect serious persecutions on the second journey, it is quite possible that he felt Mark could serve better in a field where severe persecution was less likely. Should Mark go with Paul and and turn back as he had two times before, his future as a great evangelist would be wilted. True enough, on the second missionary tour, Paul and Silas were beaten with rods at Philippi. Had Mark been with them, he might have failed the test. In the end, Mark did prove himself as a true soldier by giving to the world his beautiful . When Paul was in his final imprisonment awaiting martyrdom, he wrote to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). While some others would avoid visiting him Paul, while waiting to be martyred, could in confidence invite John Mark.

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From the dissension between Paul and Barnabas, we learn an important lesson: Every believer can possess the same Holy Spirit and be in one accord for the furtherance of the gospel and still part ways on matters of policy and judgment. This does not make anyone less than another in God’s work, for you, me, and all believers have been called out from the population as ministers and ambassadors of the Word, and all of us must prepare for the same coming of the day of the Lord.

Personal example of being in disagreement with leaders of Kare but still in agreement on the same mission.

With strength of the Holy Spirit and unity in His mission, we can fulfill the Great Commission as we journey toward the coming Day of the Lord.

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The Coming of the Day of the Lord

Earlier (on page ***), the prophesy of day of the Lord is likened to two mountain ranges separated by a great valley. The first range is the advent of our Lord’s incarnation as man and humiliation on the cross; the second range is the second advent of His coming in glory. Between the two advents is a an extensive valley or period of time—more than two millennia. In the great interlude between the first and second advents, “the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” {Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10). Joel, in his single word “whoever” expresses the great promise and meaning of “gospel.” Comment [V29]: In what way does “whoever” However, Joel also gave us a frightening picture of the coming Day of the Lord. He told express the gospel? Or does us about “wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun it express the preaching of the gospel? shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood” (Joel 2:30-31). When Peter reminded the Jewish visitors about this prophecy, it might have been difficult to understand how the strange sights in the heavens belong with the prophesy of the Great Commission. But we now see that these wonders will be a final signal for the closing of the Great Commission period and the opening events of the Day of the Lord. During the Mount of Olives Address, Jesus sketched an outline of the events of history from His death until His return in the clouds for His crowning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The disciples expected and believed that His crowning would immediately follow His death. So they asked the questions: When shall these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? Their answers came in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. In that address, the Master passionately expounded on the framework of Joel’s prophecy. He spoke of famines and earthquakes, deception and desolation, wars and rumors of wars. He even quoted Joel:

I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord (Joel 2:30-31).

Were Joel with us today, he would fervently warn us that the Day of the Lord is very close. We are coming to the end of the great valley and fast approaching the great mountain of 143 | Joel smoke and fire. In America, we cannot appreciate the dread and destruction of Joel’s locust plague. However, over our heads looms the annihilation and devastation of the nuclear age. Ours is the darkest day of history with literally "blood and fire and pillars of smoke" coming to the heavens and earth. Peter added more detail to these end-time events when he wrote to the early Christians:

The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2 Peter 3:10-12).

Our Lord on the Mount of Olives just two days before His betrayal also described these signs and wonders before the great day of the Lord: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Matt.24:29; Mark 13:24-25).

Spiritual Warfare in the Last Days

These frightening conditions that must come to pass before the day of the Lord arrives will be strengthened by the release of great satanic powers:

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed , the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thess. 2:3-4).

This son of sin and perdition is also known as the lawless one. Throughout history, the Holy Spirit has restrained his power but when that restraint is lifted, the lawless one and lawlessness will abound, resulting in a great falling away of those who do not receive the love of the truth (Matt. 24:6-11). Jesus warned that during the outbreak of this lawlessness, "the love of many [for Him] will grow cold" (v. 12). How many believers will fall away? In the Olivet Discourse, the Lord Jesus posed the very serious question: "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). That is a startling question,

144 | Joel for it suggests that multitudes of believers are comfortable in their religious habits without seriously understanding the command of the Master. When destruction comes, their foundations of faith will crumble. During His ministry, Jesus explained how to secure ourselves against falling away from our faith: “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds His life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:38-39; see also Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27). An utter reliance on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through His word will protect us. Ready to step forth to be betrayed, judged, scourged, mocked and crucified, Jesus concluded his Olivet Discourse with calm and unruffled confidence saying, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35). Those same words of confidence are ours today. When we face the powers of darkness in the closing days of time, let us cling to the promises of God and obey His commands. Of course, that is not always easy to do. How can we really know we are ready to withstand any kind of persecution, let alone the great and terrible day of the Lord?

How Can We Be Ready for These End-Time Events?

Before Pentecost, Peter and other disciples said they would not forsake their Lord, making promises that were quickly broken at the flash of a soldier’s sword. They could not withstand the real possibility of persecution and prosecution. Like them, I also fear that I would lose all fortitude if I were dragged before a hateful council, beaten, and tortured. However, Joel's promise of the giving of the Holy Spirit is the great comfort and answer to our natural weakness and helplessness—and it was for Peter as well. Peter, buoyed after Pentecost by the inward presence of the promised Holy Spirit, faced the same Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus (Acts 4:13). The Holy Spirit inspired in him the wisdom and strength needed to stand in the day of testing. Jesus foretold this ability when he said,

When they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit (Mark 13:11). 145 | Joel

Jesus also told the disciples, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist” (Luke 21:14-15). Even as the Lord Jesus gave the disciples His great promises of help, He repeatedly and passionately warned them not to depend upon their own strength.

Jesus promised to take care of His disciples and all of His church; therefore, we must not make the mistake to think that we are like baggage on a flight, checked to the point of final destination. We are, instead, ambassadors on a flight secured with privileged information. As we travel, we must trust in and rely on the Holy Spirit for effective delivery. He is our confidant and provider of knowledge, wisdom, and comfort under all times of distress and security.

Warnings for These Last Days

As we travel with our helper and comforter, we cannot fall asleep in His lap. The New Testament warns us in many ways to be agrupneo , meaning “to be sleepless, to maintain constant vigilance, absence of sleep, a wakeful frame of mind as opposed to listlessness:” It is the word used for Comment [V30]: From what dictionary is this “watch” in these Scriptures: taken? • “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” (Mark 13:33). Title • “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all Publisher Year these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

The Scriptures also warn us to be gregoreo , meaning “to keep awake, to be aroused from sleep, to give strict attention, to be cautious, of being spiritual alert.” It is also the word for “watch” in these Scriptures:

• “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42) • “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matt. 25:13) • “It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and . . . commanded the doorkeeper to watch . Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming” (Mark 13:34-35). • “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (:38). 146 | Joel

• “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching” (Luke 12:37).

The Greek word nepho , meaning “metaphorically of moral alertness in contrast to a mind made sluggish by wine, to be sober” is written as “watch” or “sober” in several passages:

• “Let us watch and be sober ” (1 Thess. 5:6). • “But you be watchful in all things” (2 Tim. 4:5). • “Let us who are of the day be sober ” (1 Thess. 5:8). • “Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober ” (1 Pet. 1:13). • “Be sober , be vigilant” (1 Pet. 5:8).

Phulake , meaning “a watch of the night by a soldier on guard duty” is used as “watch” and “guard” in these Scriptures:

• “If the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into” (Matt. 24:43). • “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust” (1 Tim. 6:20).

Why does the Master so ardently press upon us to watch and take heed ? Because He knows that, by nature, we are pitifully helpless before the enemy; only by the help of the Holy Spirit and by constant alertness will we be victorious. It is to our spiritual peril that we are lax and unconcerned. In His effort to warn us to be ready for His return, Jesus gave three thought- provoking parables in Matthew 25:

• Five foolish virgins think they are ready for their bridegroom when he comes for them, but they are not and are left out of their own wedding (vv. 1-13). • A servant, through indecision, simply does not invest his talent (vv. 14-30). • Those who are separated on the right hand of the king are told that they had fed and clothed him when he was hungry and they would inherit the kingdom. Those

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on his left hand of the king were told that they had not fed and clothed the king and would be banished to everlasting fire. Both groups were completely surprised (vv. 31-46).

The serious warnings in these three parables helps us understand the critical need to be prepared for His coming. In the midst of performing our religious activities, let us watch, take heed, and surrender our lives to God with reliance on the Holy Spirit so that we will be found standing on the right hand of Jesus on that Great Day of the Lord.

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The Called-Out Citizens of God – The New Israel

Imagine a farmer who held the valuable distinction of being a Greek citizen. While working in the fields, a herald summons. This laborer drops his tools, bathes himself, and takes a seat in the assembly hall. Others, perhaps more wealthy or more influential, envy him. This man was called out from the population. The Greek word for “called” is klesis and “out” is ek. Fortunate was the person who was ek - klesis, called out of the population to participate in honorary ceremonies or matters of state. The apostle Paul used that phrase to designate a person who was called out of the great multitude of persons in the natural sinful state to become citizens of the body of Christ. He used the term ek-klesia for the New Testament Church. The Old Testament Children of Israel gave way to the citizenship or ek-klesia of the New Testament people of God who have been called out to become the New Israel, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This calling out refers to the pivotal passage of Joel 2:32 that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ” This “whoever” provides credibility and authority for Peter’s invitation to the Diaspora Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2:21), and it anchors Paul’s central theme of faith (not the law) in the reception of salvation (Rom. 10:13). Commissioned by her Lord, the New Israel undertakes a worldwide missionary effort without distinction between Jews or Gentiles (Rom. 1:16, 10:12; Gal. 3:6-9, 6:16; Eph. 2:11-22).

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).

This missionary effort began with 120 disciples in the Upper Room. The number soon multiplied to 3,000 and then 5,000 messengers; still a meager amount in a world of millions. Now, however, the world has billions of people. How many messengers are needed to spread the good news? Isn’t that an impossible job? Though it would seem so, with Joel’s formula of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, every believer is a conduit. Joel, the sweet and tender man of his people, was overcome by his own message. He had fasted and wept, rent his heart in humble repentance. He burst in praise when the locusts disappeared, the streams poured out over pasture lands, and the trees that had been stripped of 149 | Joel bark began to bear fruit. Without understanding, his lips spoke of a sacred outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ordinary men and women, who guided and inspired by an inward power, could live and die triumphantly giving a mighty proclamation to people of all creeds and colors. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We saw how, at the celebration of Pentecost, the Lord God did, indeed, pour out His Spirit upon His followers, inspiring and empowering ordinary men and women to evangelize the world. All who have been redeemed have this responsibility. Beginning with simple things: a mother taking a bowl of soup to a sick neighbor, a cup of water given in His name; a Sunday School teacher faithfully toiling; a wife cooking and keeping house for a drunken husband. In varied ways, people are moved by the Holy Spirit to evangelize one soul with their words and deeds. Others, over the past two millennia, have been called to cross deserts in burning heat, paddle up streams made miserable by mosquitoes and muddy swamps. They spend weeks seasick on wind-driven ships. Trudging through sleet and snow, they inch their way through -infested jungles, and lay stricken with malaria in tropical huts—all for the sake of the sharing the gospel. Ordinary housewives and common laborers live before friends and fellow workers with the Spirit of a resurrected Savior speaking and radiating through them. They become aliens in strange lands. They translate the Scriptures into languages that never had a dictionary. Some suffer in dark prisons, sick with malnutrition and disease. They count it all joy All have one common characteristic—they were given the power of the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the Master Himself to take the Good News to every person and testify as a witness to His saving grace. It’s from the New Testament word for “witness” that we get the word “martyr” because a witness for Christ has often been a martyr. With their lives, they witnessed of the inward experience. Captors and persecutors envied the composure of joy that has always characterized true believers. The Holy Spirit brings an inward joy that is a most eloquent sermon. It was the composure of Peter and John of the early church that confounded the Sanhedrin, not their preaching. And the singing of Paul and Silas convicted the heart of the Roman jailer, not their arguments. Only death stopped them from spreading good news and glad tidings.

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Beautiful Feet Upon the Mountains

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace who bring glad tidings of good things. (Rom. 10:14-15 and Isa. 52:7).

The Jews were familiar with the spreading of good news and glad tidings. After seventy years of captivity in Babylon, Emperor Cyrus gave the command for the Jews to return home. In all of history, no other powerful monarch would send captives back to their homeland and allow them to take a treasure of golden vessels back to their homeland. Messengers hastened ahead to spread the word of the returning captives. As they viewed the city from Mount Olivet, their throats would burst in proclaiming the great news that the captives were coming home. These messengers were a fore-picture of the heralds of “whoever,” heralds of good tidings as told by Isaiah:

O Zion, you who bring good tidings [the gospel], Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (Is. 40:9).

Paul brought good tiding wherever he went, stating the case for world missions:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things” (Rom. 10:14-15; also quoted from Is. 52:7).

Indeed, let us honor and “behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings” ( 1:15).

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Give the Winds a Mighty Voice

Beautiful feet sometimes came in the form of horses. In the , enemies of the Jews passed a law by which all Jews would die on a certain day. Queen Esther’s courageous intercession with the king freed the Jews from their death sentence. Scribes hastened to prepare documents of the “good news” in the languages of the 127 provinces. Royal horses, “bred from swift steeds” awaited their missionary journey. Deep inside the story of Esther is the great missionary verse (and longest verse in the Bible). Esther 8:9 contains the essential elements of every missionary voyage: (1) the desperate need of the condemned, (2) the commission of the king to spread the good news of freedom, (3) the work of translators to make the good news available, and (4) the royal horses “bred from swift steeds” ready to carry the messengers. More often, beautiful feet come in the form of dust, not horses. No matter how smart we humans (who carry the good news of freedom) think we are, we should not forget the substance from which we are made. God created man out of the ground and called him Adam . In the creation story, a single Hebrew word has slight variations for “dirt,” “man,” and “Adam.” It is only because of the Spirit’s life in us that we are not only dust but are also made in the image of God. As His called-out creation, He has commissioned us to be privileged instruments of usefulness to Him, to be a herald for the Lord of the Universe in the proclamation of the Great Commission.

Another Warning to the Church

Of all the churches that ever opened their doors, none had a more Spirit-anointed pastor than the church at Ephesus, for their pastor was the apostle Paul. With prayer and teaching the word, he helped to infuse the congregation with a deep, remarkable love for God that burned deep within. The new Christians discovered that the only real love humans can know is the love experienced by abiding in our Savior. In this manner, Jesus is our first and only love. But as General Booth of the Salvation Army once said, “The tendency of fire is to go out.” And that is what happened to the church of Ephesus. Tragically, we read In Revelation 2:2- 5 the state of the Christians in Ephesus:

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I know your works, your labor, your patience, You cannot bear those who are evil, You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; You have persevered and have patience, You have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary, You hate the deeds of the Nicolatians, Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Like in the days of Joel, the people in Ephesus were doing very good works, following the rules, and living moral lives. But their love for God had waned. The clouds of locusts in Joel's day were a call to repentance, a warning to stop living according to rules and rituals and return to the inner worship and faith in God who brought them out of Egypt. God could have pronounced judgment on the people of Judah but, instead, He disciplined them with famine and plague. God’s love and mercy seeks out the sinner to the very end because the Lord desperately wants reconciliation, not judgment. I have a deep burden on my heart for friends who are like the members of Ephesus. They make A+ grades in works, patience, and other fruits of the spirit, but I fear they are missing the main point. It is very easy to get enthused about a program, but the heart of the Master is in His work—the proclamation of the Great Commission. When the disciples in the Upper Room shed their self-centered ambitions and became one with the Father and the Son, they became one with the Lord Jesus in love.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him (John 14:23).

With the help of the Holy Spirit, the disciples shared God’s love for mankind—the giving of His son to redeem all mankind:

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:12- 13).

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This is the unbelievably wonderful and sacred experience, to abide with the Father and the Son in their love. Within that experience, there is a willingness to lay down our lives (John 10:15) and to be the seed that enters the ground to die (John 12:24). When we love Jesus like that, our heart burns with a sacred fire. New Christians can tell you all about this fire, for they seem to feel it effortlessly. But like the sacred fire in the tabernacle, it must never go out (Lev. 6:9, 12-13). The church at Ephesus had been so enthusiastically engaged in the commendable works that the fire of holy love did die out.

How can I maintain the constant sacred love of the Lord Jesus in my heart?

1. There must be a constant, daily openness to the Holy Spirit of Truth. Be sensitive to His pointing out thoughts and deeds which are self–centered and take corrective action immediately. I must give a personal illustration. I recall making a statement which though true gave an impression to the listener of something not quite true. Some months later, the Holy Spirit reminded me of my statement and I realized that my statement was not the whole truth. Comment [V31]: Please be specific with what you It was a very hard thing for me to admit to myself that I was a liar. It would have said and why this one been easy to rationalize to myself that it was a partial truth but the Holy Spirit helped me statement would have been so profound as to make to see my statement was a lie. Had I allowed myself to rationalize it as a partial truth, my your first love extinct. The communion with my Lord would have been broken. I would have proceeded to engage in vagueness makes it hard to relate to. good works without the fire burning on the altar of my heart. Looking back, I see that it as a seminal experience. Had I not accepted the rebuke of the Spirit, I would have experienced an extinction of my “first love.” Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit of Truth is the single all-important action in keeping the love of the Savior burning in my heart. It might be helpful to give an example of how a Kare leader successfully yielded to the Spirit in this way. 2. My mind and activities must be engaged in the business of our Lord—the proclamation of the Gospel to Whoever. The Lord Himself said,

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• My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work (John 4:34). • I must work the works of Him who sent Me (John 9:4). • I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do (John 17:4).

I must guard against the natural satisfaction in doing good works and realize that only those things which are part of the works of the Lord Jesus have eternal value. When I get distracted and move away from His work, God disciplines me, calling me to return to my first love in pure worship and devotion, relying on His love and mercy.

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12).

“Return to Me,” says the Lord, the One who first came to us. The Creator of the universe, Christ Jesus " made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:7-8). Deity invites us to seek His pardon purchased by the death of the Son of God, and repent before the day of the Lord and His final judgment comes.

The Responsibility Is Ours

Prophet Joel with the other Scripture writers state it clearly: man is responsible for his own sin and his own judgment. Joel foresaw that his people would on occasion be scattered and taken into captivity. But when the people of Israel took responsibility for their sins, God brought them back to their homeland. Even with God’s favor upon them at home, enemies still mistreated God’s people. Nevertheless, under the heaviness of cruelty and oppression, the nation of Israel remained accountable for her actions, just as all nations are accountable for their mistreatment of Israel. Likewise, for New Israel, the great valley between the two advents of Christ is a time of mercy, of intense seeking of the sinner by the Creator. This invitation to repent and be accountable for our own wrongs will soon end. In the fourteenth chapter of the Revelation, an angel flies in the midst of Heaven “having the

155 | Joel everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." (v. 6). The events of this book are rapidly coming to conclusion in our day, yet we hear the dramatic call to man to repent: "saying with a loud voice, ’Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’” (v. 7). We must not forget that multitudes before us were given a time to repent, and the time came when - the door of the ark closed. - the death angel struck in Egypt. - the Lord allowed the destruction of Jerusalem. - the Bridegroom closed the door in front of the five foolish virgins.

The time will come when the Lord will call men to the valley—the Valley of Judgment.

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When the Curtain Falls

Valley of Judgment, Decision, Jehoshaphat

I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there. . . . Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (:2, 14).

It is generally agreed that the Valley of Jehoshaphat is the Kidron Valley that lies between the City of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. (See map of Jerusalem.) The name "Jehoshaphat" means "Jehovah judges." In this valley, God will gather all the nations for judgment. Their judgment will not be made by the nations, but rather by the God of history. Mercy having been repeatedly spurned, the Lord will call for men to prepare to fight with Him. Isaiah spoke of men turning swords into useful plowshares (Is. 2:4), but here the Lord commands the nations to turn their “plowshares into swords” (Joel 3:10) and prepare themselves for battle with Himself. This brings us to the battle itself—the most horrific illustration of the entire Bible. It is sickeningly vivid but necessary to sufficiently warn man. First, a lesson in ancient wine pressing: Every ancient vineyard had a winepress, a large container in a rocky area. Peasants gathered their grapes, tossing them into the winepress. Then, using wood, stones, or sometimes a sickle—a curved, half-moon shaped blade on a short handle , they crushed the grapes. The crushed juice would trun down a pipe into a smaller container. Regarding the judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel wrote:

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow—For their wickedness is great.

Joel is not writing about grapes in the winepress but men. The book of Revelation uses the same illustration: "The angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” Modern eyes and ears cannot accept this most vivid illustration and would rather remove such passages from the Scripture. They don’t realize that the Lord is very tender, desirous of reconciliation, but He is resolved to render judgment to those who refuse His overtures of mercy.

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And He [the Lord Jesus Christ] will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: 'King of Kings and Lord of Lords’" (Rev. 14:19, 19:15-16).

When the course of human events has run dry and the Day of the Lord approaches, our society, our government, and all vestige of law and order will crumble. Then the Lord will be the shelter for His people. Joel describes it:

But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the Children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain (3:15-17, emphasis mine).

Mount Zion was the most solid of physical bastions to defend and that is where the children of God in the Old Testament lived much of the time. (See the Geography of Ancient Jerusalem). The children of God today live in the New Testament Zion, the mighty spiritual fortress of God. Jesus assured that even though His followers would go through terrible days, He would care for them; He does not say they will not be mistreated or even butchered, but He does promise that all will be done according to divine wisdom. Past the blood and fire, past the day of the Lord, Joel again sees glorious light. This time, continuously unbroken:

And it will come to pass [on judgment] day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord And water the Valley of Acacias (Joel 3:18).

Joel's message as he comes to a close of his prophecy is about water, its lack and its abundance. The Valley of Acacias is not a historical place, but rather a poetic picture of a valley most devoid of water where Acacia trees and only a few other plants can survive. The Scriptures 158 | Joel connect this almost dead valley with Moab, a place where people followed evil counsel, which caused much trouble for Israel. The Valley of Acacia could also symbolize the world as we know it—a people most devoid of true living water. To quench their thirst, Joel spoke of the day when a fountain shall come forth out of the House of the Lord and water the Valley of Acacias (3:l8). This day would come during the reign of the kingdom of God on earth when the outpouring of the Spirit would flow freely and abundantly, causing spiritual growth even in the most despised land of Moab. John recognized this flow of life when the beloved disciple completed the last book of the Bible. On the last page, he reiterates the great promise of the Father:

Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17, emphasis mine).

For 2,000 years, this whoever message has gone forth. The Bible has been translated into nearly every language and dialect. With the terrifying clouds hovering ahead of us, the great invitation is still being given. One day, perhaps, even this day, the Lord of History will summon all of us for assembly at the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That’s the day our life-giving manna from heaven will cease just as it did for the Israelites in the Wilderness.

The Day Our Manna Ceases

After leaving Egypt and travelling for forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel crossed the into their promised land. The Israelites celebrated the Passover in their new home and, as they began eating the produce of Canaan, the manna that God supplied for them in the wilderness ceased (Josh 5:9-12). In a similar way, you and I are travelers. We left Egypt and have been sustained by daily manna of the Word. But one day, we will no longer have need of God’s printed pages, for we will stand face to face with the Living Word forever. On that day the Lord will once again pick up the cup of wine as He did at the Last Supper and drink it new with all of us in His Father's kingdom (Matt. 26:29).

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A Final Bow

This morning, I found myself meditating regarding the numerous prayers that the Lord has answered along the path of life. I wondered why, with so many answered prayers, should He be so slow about the deepest cry of my heart? Why cannot He hurry a little in remaking me in His image? As He is the Almighty; why cannot He do a little faster job of renovation? As I was thus meditating, my mind flashed to the last verse of Joel:

For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion (v. 21 KJV).

After the day of the Lord has come, when the fountain is flowing to the Valley of Acacia, that is the promise I’m looking for: "I will cleanse their blood." Yes, someday, He will do the thorough job of spiritual perfection, for as we cross our own "Jordan," the reproach of Egypt will be "rolled away." Our earthly manna will cease and with Him, we will eat of the fruit of Canaan.

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